The old Brick Factory at Afgooge.

The old Brick Factory at Afgooge.

This former Red Brick factory once produced very high quality materials for construction of homes and businesses in most parts of Southern Somalia especially the capital city Mogadishu. It is now a decomposing historial relic that is beyond repair. The machines and other equipment that were once  jewels of the construction industry has since been canibalized and exported as scrap metal to the Middle East. The countries of the Middle East is a favorite and convenient destination of many natural and canibilized produce of Somalia. Many items including valuable antiques, expensive jewelry, twisted and packaged scrap metal, even historical monuments and statues have found ready market with the merchants and pirates of illicit goods in the Middle East especially in the United Arab Emirates.

Among the goods that have been seen on the open markets of the UAE city of Dubai are priceless sculpture depicting the history and culture of the people of Somalia as a whole and those of the Banaadiri Coast in particular. Miles and miles of copper wire and steal pipes that once transported water, electricity and information to the large cities of Somalia have been dug up, rolled into a heap and melted for export to the Middle east and the Indian sub-continent. Trenches from where these utility lines were excavated mark the lanscape in and around Mogadishu and have been used by warring militia as frontline defences in their campaign to destroy the country. In the foreground of this old brick factory you can see a lone goat prowling the front of the ill-fated factory. Similar domestic animals are a common feature at many of such destroyed facilities in Somalia's urban places.