Maka al-Mukarama is the main commercial artery of modern Mogadishu, running from the old city northward through the newer districts. Since the mid-2010s, as security improved in the city centre, the road has become the main focus of Mogadishu's commercial revival. Cafes, restaurants, money changers, telecommunications shops, and small businesses have colonised the storefronts along its length, and in the evenings there is genuine street life — people eating, talking, shopping — that was unthinkable here fifteen years ago.
The road is not safe in the way that a commercial street in an ordinary city is safe — periodic attacks and security incidents still occur, and the checkpoints and fortified walls that line sections of it are reminders of the context. But as a window into the city's recovery and its extraordinary stubbornness, walking a section of Maka al-Mukarama with a local contact is one of the most striking experiences Mogadishu offers.