MOGADISHU, DEC 18 (AFP/APP/DNA):Somalia took the ambitious step of banning single-use plastic bags this year, but in a country with many economic challenges, it has proved hard to implement.

It follows similar plastic bans in other east African countries including Kenya and Tanzania.

But brightly-coloured polythene still dominates in the markets and shops of Somalia’s capital Mogadishu.

Long bedevilled by conflict, Somalia passed its law in February, but did not implement it until October. Despite a few arrests, there is little sign it is having an impact.

“We are using these bags because they are cheap and people can afford them,” grocer Abdikarim Hassan told AFP, from his stall stacked with plastic-wrapped goods in a central Mogadishu market.

“Everybody knows the negative consequences of using these plastic bags, but the question is: What do we have to replace them?”

The price difference is stark. More eco-friendly options, such as disposable paper bags, cost around four times more: at least 4,000 Somali shillings ($0.17 at the widely used unofficial exchange rate) compared with 1,000 shillings ($0.04) for simple plastic bags.

Meanwhile, more than half of the population lives below the poverty line, according to the government.

“If we are forced to stop [using] the plastic bags, we don’t have an alternative that is cheap and can replace it,” said Shamso Muqtar, a 41-year-old mother-of-five, who sells vegetables at the market.

“The government should have evaluated the matter”.