What's the impact of secret drinking in Somali border towns?

Africa Daily

"From time to time my parents will ask me: 'Hey why do you look like this'?... But they'll never ask me directly because I try my best to conceal it."

In Somalia, alcohol is completely banned because of Sharia law. It’s also frowned on by many people on religious grounds. Those caught using it are arrested and fined or imprisoned – and dealers caught with large amounts are named and shamed on TV.

But its sale is also highly lucrative in a country with high unemployment – meaning there are plenty of people willing to risk smuggling and selling it. Smugglers have to drive hundreds of kilometres from Ethiopia trying to evade Al Shabaab militants and clan militiamen in order to get the alcohol to Mogadishu. But on the way they pass through border towns where there’s increasing concern about the impact of drinking.

For today’s Africa Daily podcast, Peter Musembi speaks with a young drinker and Yusuf Warsame, a community leader from Galdogob – a town on the border with Ethiopia.