Caabudwaaq (Abudwak)

Where it is

Caabudwaaq is the seat of Caabudwaaq district in northern Galgaduud, part of Galmudug state, near the border with the Somali Region of Ethiopia (Wikipedia: Abudwak), at about 6.23°N, 46.45°E (Wikidata). Trucks and travellers crossing between Ethiopia and Somalia stop there, and the town has a long history of herding (Wikipedia: Abudwak). OCHA publishes a reference map of the district (OCHA, Cabudwaaq district map).

People

Several Somali groups live in the town; the Marehan (Sade, Darod) are the largest (Wikipedia: Abudwak). A 1996 report of the Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada described it as a Marehan town (Wikipedia: Abudwak), and the Marehan held the town's seats in the Galmudug Assembly list of June 2015 (Wikipedia: Abudwak).

The airport

People from the area living abroad paid for a major rebuild of Caabudwaaq airport from 2011, and its first scheduled flight left on 11 October 2012 (Wikipedia: Abudwak). Local people built the first 3 km phase of the runway themselves. In December 2020 Prime Minister Mohamed Hussein Roble visited and announced $200,000 from the federal government for the second phase (Horseed Media, 2020). The airport closed for two days in June 2021 when armed men stopped planes landing (Wikipedia: Abudwak). In December 2022 a cargo plane carrying khat ran off the runway, probably after a landing gear failure (Aviation Herald).

Timeline

• September 2007: a WHO polio programme worker was killed in an attack in the east of the town (Hiiraan Online, 2007).
• August 2008: failed rains caused water shortages and a serious humanitarian situation in the district (ReliefWeb, rapid needs assessment).
• 2009 to 2015, Ahlu Sunna Wal Jama'a: the Sufi armed group Ahlu Sunna ran the town. In July 2010 it stopped two local radio stations, and in March 2011 it closed seven Quran schools (Wikipedia: Abudwak). In March 2012 it announced a crackdown on charcoal burning after clashes between charcoal traders and herders (Suna Times).
• March and June 2013: Ahlu Sunna and the federal government signed agreements in Caabudwaaq on local administration under the federal constitution (Hiiraan Online, March 2013).
• 2013 to 2016: clan fighting in the district in 2012, 2014 and 2016, with reconciliation reported in August 2014 (Wikipedia: Abudwak).
• July to September 2015: Ahlu Sunna occupied the town ahead of the new Galmudug administration, then withdrew in September. In October 2015, 150 soldiers of the Somali Army's 21st Division were sent to the town (Wikipedia: Abudwak).
• February 2023: a new district administration was installed (Radio Arlaadi, 2023).

Sources

• Wikipedia: Abudwak
• Wikidata Q335731
• ReliefWeb, rapid needs assessment in Abudwak
• Horseed Media, federal funding for Caabudwaaq airport, 2020
• Aviation Herald, cargo plane overrun