Harardhere

Harardhere stretches along the Indian Ocean south of Hobyo, where the dunes meet some of the richest and least-fished waters in the western Indian Ocean. For generations its people have combined herding inland with small-boat fishing on the coast.

The town's name travelled the world for the wrong reasons twice: in the late 2000s as a piracy anchorage, and afterwards under long insurgent control. In January 2023, Somali National Army forces and allied local fighters retook Harardhere during the central Somalia offensive, returning the district to state administration for the first time in over a decade.

With peace, the district's conversation has turned to boats, ice plants, and feeder roads — the modest infrastructure that would let its fishermen reach markets in Galkayo and beyond.