Shabeellaha Dhexe

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Location of Shabeellaha Dhexe in Somalia

Middle Shabele (Somali: Shabeellaha Dhexe) is an administrative region (gobolka) in southern Somalia. As part of the former Benadir region, its capital was Mogadishu up until the mid-1980s, when the town of Jowhar became the capital. It is bordered by the Somali regions of Galguduud, Hiiraan, Lower Shabele, and Banaadir, as well as the Indian Ocean.

It is named after the river Shabeelle that passes through this region.

A pre–war census estimated the population at 1.4 million. Today, the regional council claims that the region’s population is 1.6 million.

The region is principally inhabited by various sub-clans of the Somali Mudulood clan, most notably the Abgaal. Other Mudulood subclans that live in this region include the Moobleen and Hiilebi. However, the Abgaal sub-clan are the predominant clan in Middle Shabelle. ^[1]

There are also members of the non-Somali ethnic minority Bantu group (Kaboole).

The regional consists of seven (7) districts: Jowhar – the regional capital, Bal’ad, Adale, A/yabal, War sheikh, Runirgon and Mahaday.

The region supports livestock production, rain-fed and gravity irrigated agriculture and fisheries, with an annual rainfall between 150 and 500 millimeters covering an area of approximately 60,000 square kilometers, the region has a 400 km coastline on Indian Ocean.^[2]