Kurmaan

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Kurmaan is a town in Somalia’s Gedo region, in the southwest near Bardera on the Juba River. It sits just east of Bardera, with Kurman Creek marking the boundary between Bardera and Kurmaan, and lies near Bardera Airport along Highway 3. The next main town toward Sakow is Anoole. Kurmaan, formerly called Buulo Kurmaan, grew after the civil war in the 1990s as people moved here when land in Bardera became expensive. Many residents still use Bardera’s market for groceries, pharmacies and eateries, but Kurmaan has developed its own schools and small markets since 2006. A footbridge over the local creek now makes it easier to move there or buy land. The population is about 7,000. Land plots in Kurmaan are cheaper than in Bardera, which helped low-income families settle here. As services expand, Kurmaan is becoming more of a town in its own right, separate from Bardera.