In Somalia, to be caught with a smartphone in the wrong place can mean death

Somalia is not a place for web addicts. Even in the capital, Mogadishu, coverage is patchy, expensive and unpredictable. Things are slightly better in the north, but further afield, and anywhere the al-Shabaab militant group holds sway, there is no internet at all.

All of which means that in the global league of internet access, Somalia is at the bottom, with fewer than 2% of its people regularly online.

This has unfortunate repercussions for locals. In Marka town, Lower Shabelle region, Anas Farah, 26, who ran a music studio, said he has been forced to shut his business because of lack of internet service.

Chart The digital haves and have-nots

“I used to download new music from the internet and also post on to my Facebook to advertise the new music I have got so that customers could come and buy,” he said. “First al-Shabaab banned the internet and the internet provider closed the company. There was no money. I could not survive without internet so I closed the music shop.”

Facebook Twitter Pinterest A Mogadishu resident at a cyber cafe. Photograph: Alamy Stock Photo

Besides the music, he also downloaded Islamic lectures from the YouTube and customers would bring their memory cards to be loaded.

The shop was the only source of income for Farah, who is married and has three children: “I lost my job. Today, if internet access resumes, I will reopen my shop and make money.”

Some people even find themselves moving cities in order to stay connected. Ali Sheikh Hamud, 20, a university student who lives near Barire, said he had to travel regularly to Mogadishu to access the internet when he was doing his last exam in August this year.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Daily life in the southern Somali town of Marka, Lower Shabelle. Photograph: Alamy Stock Photo

“If they caught me with smartphone, al-Shabaab guys will behead me and say that I am a spy, so I did not want to risk my life,” he said. “I traveled to Mogadishu to have my access to the internet. Thank God I managed to do my university exam.”

Amina Nuur Ibrahim, 19, left her hometown of Jilib for the port city of Kismayo so she could stay in contact with her partner.

“My boyfriend lives in Kenya and he is connected, and as you know direct phone call is expensive,” she said. “Unfortunately I was not able to connect, so I left my family in Jilib and came to Kismayo to chat with my boyfriend and continue to discuss about the plans of our wedding.”

Al-Shabaab banned people from using smartphones with access to internet and GPS due to fear of its leaders being located.

Mohamed Ali Abukar, 32, a truck driver, leaves his smartphone in Mogadishu whenever he visits his grandfather in Gambole town, Middle Shabelle.

“Because I fear for my life, if al-Shabaab men see me with my smartphone, they would instantly kill me,” he said. “They don’t like smartphone and internet access as many of the militant commanders were killed with drones believed to have connected to the smartphone’s GPS.”

Abukar remembers when two young men of his village were detained and beheaded by al-Shabaab militants after being found with the devices.

“When I am traveling to visit my grandfather who is sick, I leave my phone and internet behind,” he said. “Until I return back, I do not have internet access.”