Somali Traders Treating Tax Collectors Like the Warlords That Preceded Them

5 killed so far this year

The Somali traders in Mogadishu's markets have long faced down Islamist rebels and warlords demanding money. Now they say there is a new predator: the government tax man.

Militias extorted cash from civilians during much of the last two decades of chaos. Now Mogadishu has a government in place, but shopkeepers view the taxman as the latest in a long line of troublemakers.

That makes tax collection one of the riskier jobs in Mogadishu: Five tax collectors have been killed so far this year, following the killings of 10 last year, according to the director of Mogadishu's municipal council, Abdullahi Artan.