The DSA fought and lost a bitter war against the occupiers of the Lower Shabelle and Jubba regions for many years. Its leaders have since either died natural deaths or went into exile overseas. After that Indha Cadde and his cronies in Mogadishu using the financial support syphooned out of public treasury by the short-lived regime of Abdi Qassim strengthened their stranggle-hold over the lands and peoples of those regions. However large areas of those regions outside the main cities still remain off-limits to the enemy. These areas are protected by a new group loosily coming together under the umbrella of a new organization called Darawiishta Aw Digil, or just DD.

This picture was taken outside the small town of Toortooroow. The armed men are members of the Daraawiishta Aw Digil(DD) militia. Every community and clan in the Lower Shabeelle region formed a vigilante group that they arm, feed and train for self-defence. In an event that a clan or farming community is attacked they would mobilise quickly and come to their defence. While each clan maintains its own militia they come together under the umbrella of the DD. The DD has no connection with its predicesor the DSA which is a basically defunct organization.

If you live in Afgooye today, it is as if as you are living in two different worlds. On one side of that depressed city are old crumbling buildings with narrow streets and streets filled with litter and over-grown bushes. Along its meandering narrow streets fronted by age old homes and their equally emanciated and aging owners are stray goats, cats amd other domesticated animals. On the other side of the river is the portion of the same city which is bustling with activity and commerce. All economic activities of the city are controlled by the military occupiers of Afgooye on this side of the city.

This is the old Municipality Building of the City of Afgooye. The once bustling office building with its immaculate architecture and friendly environment is now a shell of a concrete waste permeated by bats and millions of ants and cockroaches. The mayoral wing and the old City Hall are now the living rooms of Internally Displaced Peoples. Other offices in the beautifully crafted building are a shell of its old image.

The above picture shows the gate of the former Animal Orphanage at Afgooye. In its hey days this facility was home to some of the most rare species of wildlife in the Eastern Africa region. Somalia was once home to many species of wildlife, some of which were not seen anywhere else. The wetlands of the river basin was an ideal habitat for these rare species of some hoofed animals and many species of reptiles and insects. In Somali folklore animals, both wild and domestic have always been used to sweeten stories and songs and many wise sayings and proverbs are based on them. At this facility many monkey species and dear, not to mention the members of the big five, were raised. The Somali National University's faculty of Veterinary Medicine used this facility as a very important dimension to its curriculum.

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.