:00:12. > :00:20.Tonight: It is the ultimate failed State. A land of war and piracy.
:00:20. > :00:24.But what is it like to live in the anarchy of Somalia?
:00:24. > :00:29.They call this the Mogadishu Music. I am going where no Western
:00:29. > :00:32.journalist has been, to witness a crisis that threatens millions of
:00:32. > :00:36.lives. This desperate panic for food
:00:36. > :00:39.happens every single day of the year.
:00:39. > :00:46.An offshoot of Tokai you do controlled most of the country and
:00:46. > :00:51.vows to avenge Bin Laden's death -- an offshoot of Al-Qaeda air
:00:51. > :00:59.controls most of the country. is an international problem. It
:00:59. > :01:09.will grow and impact on us all. This is a story of one country's
:01:09. > :01:23.
:01:23. > :01:32.catastrophe. A tragedy that This is the world's biggest refugee
:01:32. > :01:37.camp. Dadaab in northern Kenya, over a quarter of a million Somalis
:01:37. > :01:47.are here, and still they are coming. It is the most visible sign of
:01:47. > :01:56.
:01:57. > :02:02.This is the processing of humans on an industrial scale. They are
:02:02. > :02:06.pushing through around 600 people today, at the moment the process --
:02:07. > :02:16.they process around 9000 a month. This is the processing of the end
:02:17. > :02:24.
:02:24. > :02:30.of a nation, I guess. TRANSLATION: There is no water. We
:02:30. > :02:38.only have sticks to build a shelter. We have young children, there is no
:02:38. > :02:45.shade. No sanitation. But even this desolation is better
:02:45. > :02:53.than the nightmare they left behind. I am going to see what they are
:02:53. > :03:01.running from. I have journeyed to the heart of a brutal civil war. If
:03:02. > :03:09.Somalia sits on the Horn of Africa. Its war started 20 years ago when
:03:09. > :03:13.rebels toppled the Marxist dictator. The Americans sent peacekeepers in,
:03:13. > :03:19.but local militias forced them out after the famous Black Hawk Down
:03:19. > :03:28.incident. Since then, few Westerners have
:03:28. > :03:32.dared to West -- dared to venture year. I have been here before. In
:03:33. > :03:42.2005 I came to cover the crisis with my producer, but a gunman shot
:03:43. > :03:57.
:03:57. > :04:07.and killed her. For me, this is There is no way a foreigner can
:04:07. > :04:12.
:04:12. > :04:20.survive here without guns. I need a Most of Mogadishu is hidden from
:04:20. > :04:27.the outside world. Kidnappers and bandits are rife, and anti-Western
:04:27. > :04:30.as control most of the city. We have to move at speed into avoid an
:04:30. > :04:40.attack. It can feel chaotic at times, it
:04:40. > :04:45.gives a complete new meaning to the term defensive driving.
:04:45. > :04:51.My first stop is the Medina Hospital, one of the few places of
:04:51. > :05:01.refuge in Mogadishu. Even on a quiet day, the corridors
:05:01. > :05:03.
:05:04. > :05:09.are filled with war casualties. We find victims wounded by all sides.
:05:09. > :05:16.14 year-old Abbas was caught by roadside bomb. He was helping his
:05:17. > :05:21.friend Rama sell a rare luxury here, I screamed. TRANSLATION: That day I
:05:21. > :05:31.came from school, then the blast happened. Thinking about it makes
:05:31. > :05:33.
:05:33. > :05:41.me feel very sad. Rama was there with me. We were walking together
:05:42. > :05:48.when it went off. Her clothes were on fire.
:05:48. > :05:52.Abbas and Rama were lucky to survive. Seven others were killed.
:05:52. > :05:57.Before I move on, there is somewhere else I want to visit,
:05:57. > :06:00.when I last saw my colleague Kate Peyton after she had been shot.
:06:00. > :06:05.This hospital and his corridor in particular have some very difficult
:06:05. > :06:10.memories for me. It was here that we brought Kate just before she
:06:10. > :06:16.went into surgery. Coming back here has made me feel, frankly, quite
:06:16. > :06:20.bloody-minded about finishing the story we originally came to do.
:06:20. > :06:28.Kate died a few hours after the operation. Her killers have never
:06:28. > :06:38.been found. But every day the surgeons here still managed to save
:06:38. > :06:39.
:06:39. > :06:43.life afterlife. -- Life After Life. Dr Mohamed Yusuf is the director of
:06:43. > :06:49.the hospital. He gave up a good practice in Italy to come here nine
:06:49. > :06:58.years ago. We have three gunshot victims here, what else? Landmine,
:06:58. > :07:03.bomb. Mortars, no? How does that make you feel when you see these
:07:03. > :07:08.injuries all the time? If how I feel? As a doctor, somebody trying
:07:08. > :07:14.to help people survive and save people's lives? It is just
:07:14. > :07:24.frustration, chronic frustration. Because this thing is happening
:07:24. > :07:27.
:07:27. > :07:34.It is interesting coming here, because I think we have met once
:07:34. > :07:39.before. Back in 2005, when Kate Peyton was shot, do you remember?
:07:39. > :07:45.That time? Can you imagine the situation compared to today? The
:07:45. > :07:51.situation was better. The disaster was a better situation than what it
:07:51. > :07:55.is today. It is hard to imagine that Somalia
:07:55. > :08:02.could be worse than when I last came here, but since then the war
:08:02. > :08:11.has taken a terrible toll on civilians. In all, as many as 1
:08:11. > :08:18.million people may have died. I'm going to see where the fighting
:08:18. > :08:24.is taking place. The safest way to get it there is with heavily armed
:08:24. > :08:31.troops sent by the African Union. They are here defending a new UN-
:08:31. > :08:41.backed government trying to unite Somalia. On the way to the front,
:08:41. > :08:41.
:08:41. > :08:44.we pass Parliament House. MPs sit here in a bunker under the building.
:08:44. > :08:49.This is the old Parliament Hall. You can't tell be struck by the
:08:49. > :08:57.irony of this, particularly this mural depicting Somalia breaking
:08:57. > :09:04.free from the chains of oppression. The building is regularly attacked
:09:04. > :09:12.by the new enemy, Al-Shabab. They are a force of militant Islamists
:09:12. > :09:16.organised, committed and closely linked to Al-Qaeda. They want to
:09:16. > :09:22.take over Somalia and impose an extremist brand of Islam deeply
:09:22. > :09:30.alien to the more tolerant version practised here. And they are waging
:09:30. > :09:37.a bitter campaign against African Union troops.
:09:37. > :09:46.We arrive at an African Union strongholds manned by Ugandans.
:09:46. > :09:56.They are resupply in during a day- long battle. What is the firing we
:09:56. > :09:57.
:09:57. > :10:02.are hearing, the shooting? It is where the enemy was. It is behind.
:10:02. > :10:07.It is trying to frighten so that it can regain a place, but we are
:10:07. > :10:12.saying no. Major Anthony Mbusi can -- commands this sector of the
:10:12. > :10:22.front line, with a mission to drive Al-Shabab back and help secure the
:10:22. > :10:24.
:10:24. > :10:33.city so the Government can start It sounds like there is fighting
:10:33. > :10:42.just down here? You see the red roof House? That is the enemy.
:10:42. > :10:47.much ground are they able to take? 100 metres, an area of 100 metres.
:10:47. > :10:54.It is a war of attrition. In four years of fighting the African Union
:10:54. > :11:04.has taken only a few square kilometres of the city. Al-Shabab
:11:04. > :11:29.
:11:29. > :11:39.There is a sniper in the north. And We decide to take a long way round.
:11:39. > :11:43.
:11:43. > :11:48.This is what 20 years of urban warfare does to a city. Remember,
:11:48. > :11:56.these aren't flimsy buildings, this is solid concrete construction.
:11:56. > :12:02.Just incredible. The frontline cut through this once elegant middle-
:12:02. > :12:07.class suburb. Past fighters barricaded in someone's lounge. A
:12:07. > :12:15.supply line cutting through a child's nursery. And somebody's
:12:15. > :12:25.bathroom is now a machine-gun nest. It is hand-to-hand fighting, house-
:12:25. > :12:36.
:12:36. > :12:41.to-house fighting? Yes. Let's keep There is always danger year. --
:12:41. > :12:51.here. Underfoot, there is the danger of unexploded bombs, mines
:12:51. > :13:08.
:13:08. > :13:18.Come this way. Humberside. TUC a Red House, a red-roofed house? --
:13:18. > :13:18.
:13:18. > :13:27.do you see a red house? It landed there. That is where they are.
:13:27. > :13:37.Let's move, it is not so secure. that mortars, or...? That is a
:13:37. > :13:46.
:13:46. > :13:51.Let's go. Relieve. The Ugandans continue the
:13:51. > :13:58.fight. -- we leave. Al-Shabab have vowed to avenge the death of Osama
:13:58. > :14:05.Bin Laden and are recruiting jihadi is from around the world. --
:14:05. > :14:09.recruiting jihadis. There has been a warning that they might soon
:14:09. > :14:12.inspired terrorism on British streets. This has become a war that
:14:12. > :14:15.the West to meet the African Union to win.
:14:15. > :14:21.Do you feel comfortable fighting the war on terror on behalf of the
:14:21. > :14:31.rest of the world? What do I have to do? I would like the rest of the
:14:31. > :14:31.
:14:31. > :14:36.world to join hands with us and we The Western-backed Somali
:14:36. > :14:43.government needs all the help it can get. It is fighting for its
:14:43. > :14:46.life. We are outside the Prime Minister's office just preparing
:14:46. > :14:52.for our interview, and there is the sound of shooting, it does not
:14:52. > :14:57.sound like it is that far from here. Fighting Al-Shabab is a Cabinet
:14:57. > :15:01.made up largely of former excels. Until recently the Prime Minister
:15:01. > :15:08.was a transport official in New York. His deputy is a former
:15:08. > :15:15.academic. We have been invaded by a philosophy, an ideology and a group
:15:15. > :15:25.of hard men who want to actually take over. Those people are looking
:15:25. > :15:26.
:15:27. > :15:32.for an empty space without But this government is in no
:15:33. > :15:37.position to provide governance. It controls about half of Mogadishu.
:15:37. > :15:42.Al-Shabab controls half the country. And the battle for supremecy here
:15:42. > :15:48.is being fought in a living city of 2.5 million, with families and
:15:48. > :15:53.children who have to find a way, somehow, of surviving this anarchy.
:15:53. > :16:03.To understand how, I want to get close to them. That means leaving
:16:03. > :16:03.
:16:03. > :16:08.the protection of armed convoys. For this stage in my journey, I'm
:16:08. > :16:11.moving to a part of the city that the African Union can't control.
:16:11. > :16:21.Getting to locals in the middle of this conflict will be dangerous. We
:16:21. > :16:21.
:16:21. > :16:26.have to find them on foot. The usual body armour draws too much
:16:26. > :16:31.attention to itself apparently. We have to wear this stuff, which is a
:16:31. > :16:41.little bit more discreet. My bodyguards will stay with me. The
:16:41. > :16:45.
:16:46. > :16:50.risks are too great. There is no safe time to begin. We've heard
:16:50. > :16:56.people are living in abandoned government offices nearby. So we're
:16:56. > :17:02.making our way down hidden back allies to try and -- alies to try
:17:02. > :17:06.and find them. They call this the Mogadishu music, the constart
:17:06. > :17:14.crackle and thump of artillery that everyone is now completely blase
:17:14. > :17:22.about. We arrive at the offices. This war
:17:22. > :17:29.has created an underclass of urban nomads, vai grants forced to move
:17:29. > :17:39.whenever the front lines shift or alliances change. They squat
:17:39. > :17:42.
:17:42. > :17:52.The men are out now looking for work, begging for whatever they can
:17:52. > :17:56.
:17:56. > :18:00.This used to be the offices of the Somali National Airlines. I guess
:18:00. > :18:03.the pride of the nation, yet now, its offices are filled with
:18:03. > :18:13.refugees, with people who fled here because home is simply too
:18:13. > :18:22.
:18:22. > :18:27.Maryam Ahmed fled with her seven children when the fighting moved to
:18:27. > :18:34.her neighbourhood. We want to talk to her, but it's too dangerous to
:18:34. > :18:41.stay, so we move to a building nearby. We find a group of women
:18:41. > :18:48.sifting grain for a local aid agency. It is a relatively safe
:18:48. > :18:54.place where Maryam can tell me her story.
:18:54. > :18:58.TRANSLATION: We were hiding in the toilet. There was gunfire. My
:18:58. > :19:05.husband told me to take the children away. He said he'd look
:19:05. > :19:13.after the house. After some time, when he hadn't turned up, we
:19:13. > :19:23.decided to look for him. My husband wasn't there. She has no idea where
:19:23. > :19:28.
:19:28. > :19:32.her husband is. Now she depends on food aid from a local agency. A
:19:32. > :19:42.drought is forcing people out of the country towards the violence of
:19:42. > :19:43.
:19:43. > :19:47.the city two. Million people across Somalia are in urgent need of aid.
:19:47. > :19:57.The Islamists have banned international agencies. Instead
:19:57. > :20:07.
:20:07. > :20:11.local charities distribute food. This feeding centres caters to
:20:11. > :20:17.about 5,000 people, this desperate panic for food happens every single
:20:17. > :20:22.day of the year. It's not just here, but in at least 14 other place as
:20:22. > :20:27.cross Mogadishu. Some are so weak they can't even
:20:28. > :20:37.make it to the start of the line. It is the old and the frail who
:20:38. > :20:39.
:20:39. > :20:44.suffer the most. Despite all this, Maryam still finds the strength to
:20:44. > :20:48.continue. TRANSLATION: I never wanted to
:20:48. > :20:58.become a refugee, but it's God's will my husband and I are apart.
:20:58. > :21:05.
:21:05. > :21:15.Thank God my children are still At night, a battle rages close to
:21:15. > :21:23.
:21:23. > :21:33.Civilians in the neighbourhood have to sit it out too. But once the
:21:33. > :21:37.
:21:37. > :21:41.shooting fades, people emerge and I think of Mogadishu as such a
:21:41. > :21:45.devastated war zone that it comes as something of a surprise to see a
:21:45. > :21:49.marketplace like this that seems to be functioning perfectly normally.
:21:49. > :21:54.Of course, it's not normal. They have to do it in spite of
:21:54. > :22:04.everything. We couldn't come here without this incredible security.
:22:04. > :22:06.
:22:06. > :22:10.There is food for sale here, but only for those who can afford it.
:22:10. > :22:17.Just a short walk away, we find another settlement for people
:22:17. > :22:22.who've had to flee their homes. They haven't got money for food.
:22:22. > :22:28.Instead they have to burn the thorns off cacti to keep their
:22:29. > :22:37.goats alive. I want to talk to them, but our security warns us not to
:22:37. > :22:43.stay. The fate of Somalia's people
:22:43. > :22:47.doesn't only lie with aid agencies, foreign powers or Al-Shabab, the
:22:47. > :22:56.country's clans are also key. They are a central part of its social
:22:56. > :23:05.fabric, but also of its conflicts. I'm going to see elders from one of
:23:05. > :23:09.the most powerful clans the Hawiye. They fought the Americans in the
:23:09. > :23:19.1993 Black Hawk Down battle. 19 Americans were killed. The bodies
:23:19. > :23:19.
:23:19. > :23:23.of some of them were dragged through the streets. This Hollywood
:23:23. > :23:29.blockbuster retold the story and for a brief moment, it focused the
:23:29. > :23:37.world's attention on the country's crisis.
:23:37. > :23:46.There can be no peace here without clans like the Hawiye. These are
:23:46. > :23:56.their Godfathers. The rise of the Islamists is forcing them to
:23:56. > :24:00.
:24:00. > :24:03.TRANSLATION: We can't overcome this as clan factions, only as a
:24:03. > :24:08.government. We have a government and it is internationally
:24:08. > :24:12.recognised, but it must get the resource it's needs.
:24:12. > :24:14.The elders are exhausted by clan conflict. Time and again they
:24:14. > :24:21.appealed for international support to create a stable central
:24:21. > :24:25.government. You do not want to see Al-Shabab take control, is that
:24:25. > :24:31.correct? TRANSLATION: Our country has a seat
:24:31. > :24:35.at the United Nations. You can't turn it over to terrorists.
:24:35. > :24:43.The African Union troops, with Western money, are charged with
:24:43. > :24:48.defeated Al-Shabab. So why hasn't that happened? The force commander
:24:48. > :24:54.says he asked the UN for 20,000 troops. He was only given 8thoul
:24:54. > :24:59.and no air support. Nowhere near enough to beat the insurgents
:24:59. > :25:02.(8,000) Nobody can pretend this is an African problem or this is a
:25:02. > :25:06.Somali problem. This is an international problem. This mission
:25:06. > :25:11.is doable. It's not as difficult as people think. It is doable. If we
:25:11. > :25:21.do not give it the attention it deserves, we will have to regret.
:25:21. > :25:21.
:25:21. > :25:28.It will grow and it will backfire on all of us. And so this crisis
:25:28. > :25:33.continues, a bloody stalemate amongst the concrete and dust. I
:25:33. > :25:43.had hoped to revisit the place my producer was shot, but it was just
:25:43. > :25:54.
:25:54. > :25:59.It's no wonder why people are so desperate to leave. Many of those
:25:59. > :26:06.running from Mogadishu head to the northern most tip of Somalia.
:26:06. > :26:16.Pirates roam these seas. On its shores people crowd in, preparing
:26:16. > :26:18.
:26:18. > :26:23.for the next stage in their flight. Out this way is the Arabian Gulf.
:26:23. > :26:28.From there it's Yemen, the Middle East and Europe beyond. It is, in
:26:28. > :26:36.effect, Land's End. For people here, this isn't far enough. That's where
:26:36. > :26:46.they're ultimately heading. Countless drown trying to cross the
:26:46. > :26:53.
:26:53. > :27:03.Gulf. Buried on the beach, in But that doesn't stop people from
:27:03. > :27:04.
:27:04. > :27:08.trying. Nur Aden has travelled a thousand kilometres from Mogadishu.
:27:08. > :27:13.He lost his arm and leg in the same artillery strike that killed his
:27:13. > :27:19.parents. He's determined to cross the sea and get to Europe.
:27:19. > :27:24.It is so dangerous, why are you prepared to risk your life?
:27:24. > :27:29.TRANSLATION: They search your house. They come and go. That upsets you.
:27:29. > :27:39.They come back and beat your wife. That's humiliation. Isn't it better
:27:39. > :27:44.
:27:44. > :27:51.to risk your life? Maybe you will Each refugee has their own tale of