Abstract

This paper moves beyond commonly invoked macro-political explanations of the causes of mobility in the shadows of conflict, seeking ways of developing a micro-sociological analysis of outmigration from Mogadishu during a particular episode of the city’s history. In 2007–2008, some two thirds of Mogadishu’s population abandoned the city, in the wake of violence between the Ethiopian-backed Transitional Federal Government and the Islamic Courts. Qualitative research with people from Mogadishu seeking refuge elsewhere explores how particular interactions between people, their resources, and their structural contexts produced migration. Their accounts point to the multi-layered, multi-causal nature of the forces behind migration, including how the policies of developed states shape conflict, daily life and mobility in the Horn of Africa.

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