Land of Anarchy Panorama

Tonight: It is the ultimate failed State. A land of war and piracy.

But what is it like to live in the anarchy of Somalia?

They call this the Mogadishu Music. I am going where no Western

journalist has been, to witness a crisis that threatens millions of

lives. This desperate panic for food

happens every single day of the year.

An offshoot of Tokai you do controlled most of the country and

vows to avenge Bin Laden's death -- an offshoot of Al-Qaeda air

controls most of the country. is an international problem. It

will grow and impact on us all. This is a story of one country's

catastrophe. A tragedy that This is the world's biggest refugee

camp. Dadaab in northern Kenya, over a quarter of a million Somalis

are here, and still they are coming. It is the most visible sign of

This is the processing of humans on an industrial scale. They are

pushing through around 600 people today, at the moment the process --

they process around 9000 a month. This is the processing of the end

of a nation, I guess. TRANSLATION: There is no water. We

only have sticks to build a shelter. We have young children, there is no

shade. No sanitation. But even this desolation is better

than the nightmare they left behind. I am going to see what they are

running from. I have journeyed to the heart of a brutal civil war. If

Somalia sits on the Horn of Africa. Its war started 20 years ago when

rebels toppled the Marxist dictator. The Americans sent peacekeepers in,

but local militias forced them out after the famous Black Hawk Down

incident. Since then, few Westerners have

dared to West -- dared to venture year. I have been here before. In

2005 I came to cover the crisis with my producer, but a gunman shot

and killed her. For me, this is There is no way a foreigner can

survive here without guns. I need a Most of Mogadishu is hidden from

the outside world. Kidnappers and bandits are rife, and anti-Western

as control most of the city. We have to move at speed into avoid an

attack. It can feel chaotic at times, it

gives a complete new meaning to the term defensive driving.

My first stop is the Medina Hospital, one of the few places of

refuge in Mogadishu. Even on a quiet day, the corridors

are filled with war casualties. We find victims wounded by all sides.

14 year-old Abbas was caught by roadside bomb. He was helping his

friend Rama sell a rare luxury here, I screamed. TRANSLATION: That day I

came from school, then the blast happened. Thinking about it makes

me feel very sad. Rama was there with me. We were walking together

when it went off. Her clothes were on fire.

Abbas and Rama were lucky to survive. Seven others were killed.

Before I move on, there is somewhere else I want to visit,

when I last saw my colleague Kate Peyton after she had been shot.

This hospital and his corridor in particular have some very difficult

memories for me. It was here that we brought Kate just before she

went into surgery. Coming back here has made me feel, frankly, quite

bloody-minded about finishing the story we originally came to do.

Kate died a few hours after the operation. Her killers have never

been found. But every day the surgeons here still managed to save

life afterlife. -- Life After Life. Dr Mohamed Yusuf is the director of

the hospital. He gave up a good practice in Italy to come here nine

years ago. We have three gunshot victims here, what else? Landmine,

bomb. Mortars, no? How does that make you feel when you see these

injuries all the time? If how I feel? As a doctor, somebody trying

to help people survive and save people's lives? It is just

frustration, chronic frustration. Because this thing is happening

It is interesting coming here, because I think we have met once

before. Back in 2005, when Kate Peyton was shot, do you remember?

That time? Can you imagine the situation compared to today? The

situation was better. The disaster was a better situation than what it

is today. It is hard to imagine that Somalia

could be worse than when I last came here, but since then the war

has taken a terrible toll on civilians. In all, as many as 1

million people may have died. I'm going to see where the fighting

is taking place. The safest way to get it there is with heavily armed

troops sent by the African Union. They are here defending a new UN-

backed government trying to unite Somalia. On the way to the front,

we pass Parliament House. MPs sit here in a bunker under the building.

This is the old Parliament Hall. You can't tell be struck by the

irony of this, particularly this mural depicting Somalia breaking

free from the chains of oppression. The building is regularly attacked

by the new enemy, Al-Shabab. They are a force of militant Islamists

organised, committed and closely linked to Al-Qaeda. They want to

take over Somalia and impose an extremist brand of Islam deeply

alien to the more tolerant version practised here. And they are waging

a bitter campaign against African Union troops.

We arrive at an African Union strongholds manned by Ugandans.

They are resupply in during a day- long battle. What is the firing we

are hearing, the shooting? It is where the enemy was. It is behind.

It is trying to frighten so that it can regain a place, but we are

saying no. Major Anthony Mbusi can -- commands this sector of the

front line, with a mission to drive Al-Shabab back and help secure the

city so the Government can start It sounds like there is fighting

just down here? You see the red roof House? That is the enemy.

much ground are they able to take? 100 metres, an area of 100 metres.

It is a war of attrition. In four years of fighting the African Union

has taken only a few square kilometres of the city. Al-Shabab

There is a sniper in the north. And We decide to take a long way round.

This is what 20 years of urban warfare does to a city. Remember,

these aren't flimsy buildings, this is solid concrete construction.

Just incredible. The frontline cut through this once elegant middle-

class suburb. Past fighters barricaded in someone's lounge. A

supply line cutting through a child's nursery. And somebody's

bathroom is now a machine-gun nest. It is hand-to-hand fighting, house-

to-house fighting? Yes. Let's keep There is always danger year. --

here. Underfoot, there is the danger of unexploded bombs, mines

Come this way. Humberside. TUC a Red House, a red-roofed house? --

do you see a red house? It landed there. That is where they are.

Let's move, it is not so secure. that mortars, or...? That is a

Let's go. Relieve. The Ugandans continue the

fight. -- we leave. Al-Shabab have vowed to avenge the death of Osama

Bin Laden and are recruiting jihadi is from around the world. --

recruiting jihadis. There has been a warning that they might soon

inspired terrorism on British streets. This has become a war that

the West to meet the African Union to win.

Do you feel comfortable fighting the war on terror on behalf of the

rest of the world? What do I have to do? I would like the rest of the

world to join hands with us and we The Western-backed Somali

government needs all the help it can get. It is fighting for its

life. We are outside the Prime Minister's office just preparing

for our interview, and there is the sound of shooting, it does not

sound like it is that far from here. Fighting Al-Shabab is a Cabinet

made up largely of former excels. Until recently the Prime Minister

was a transport official in New York. His deputy is a former

academic. We have been invaded by a philosophy, an ideology and a group

of hard men who want to actually take over. Those people are looking

for an empty space without But this government is in no

position to provide governance. It controls about half of Mogadishu.

Al-Shabab controls half the country. And the battle for supremecy here

is being fought in a living city of 2.5 million, with families and

children who have to find a way, somehow, of surviving this anarchy.

To understand how, I want to get close to them. That means leaving

the protection of armed convoys. For this stage in my journey, I'm

moving to a part of the city that the African Union can't control.

Getting to locals in the middle of this conflict will be dangerous. We

have to find them on foot. The usual body armour draws too much

attention to itself apparently. We have to wear this stuff, which is a

little bit more discreet. My bodyguards will stay with me. The

risks are too great. There is no safe time to begin. We've heard

people are living in abandoned government offices nearby. So we're

making our way down hidden back allies to try and -- alies to try

and find them. They call this the Mogadishu music, the constart

crackle and thump of artillery that everyone is now completely blase

about. We arrive at the offices. This war

has created an underclass of urban nomads, vai grants forced to move

whenever the front lines shift or alliances change. They squat

The men are out now looking for work, begging for whatever they can

This used to be the offices of the Somali National Airlines. I guess

the pride of the nation, yet now, its offices are filled with

refugees, with people who fled here because home is simply too

Maryam Ahmed fled with her seven children when the fighting moved to

her neighbourhood. We want to talk to her, but it's too dangerous to

stay, so we move to a building nearby. We find a group of women

sifting grain for a local aid agency. It is a relatively safe

place where Maryam can tell me her story.

TRANSLATION: We were hiding in the toilet. There was gunfire. My

husband told me to take the children away. He said he'd look

after the house. After some time, when he hadn't turned up, we

decided to look for him. My husband wasn't there. She has no idea where

her husband is. Now she depends on food aid from a local agency. A

drought is forcing people out of the country towards the violence of

the city two. Million people across Somalia are in urgent need of aid.

The Islamists have banned international agencies. Instead

local charities distribute food. This feeding centres caters to

about 5,000 people, this desperate panic for food happens every single

day of the year. It's not just here, but in at least 14 other place as

cross Mogadishu. Some are so weak they can't even

make it to the start of the line. It is the old and the frail who

suffer the most. Despite all this, Maryam still finds the strength to

continue. TRANSLATION: I never wanted to

become a refugee, but it's God's will my husband and I are apart.

Thank God my children are still At night, a battle rages close to

Civilians in the neighbourhood have to sit it out too. But once the

shooting fades, people emerge and I think of Mogadishu as such a

devastated war zone that it comes as something of a surprise to see a

marketplace like this that seems to be functioning perfectly normally.

Of course, it's not normal. They have to do it in spite of

everything. We couldn't come here without this incredible security.

There is food for sale here, but only for those who can afford it.

Just a short walk away, we find another settlement for people

who've had to flee their homes. They haven't got money for food.

Instead they have to burn the thorns off cacti to keep their

goats alive. I want to talk to them, but our security warns us not to

stay. The fate of Somalia's people

doesn't only lie with aid agencies, foreign powers or Al-Shabab, the

country's clans are also key. They are a central part of its social

fabric, but also of its conflicts. I'm going to see elders from one of

the most powerful clans the Hawiye. They fought the Americans in the

1993 Black Hawk Down battle. 19 Americans were killed. The bodies

of some of them were dragged through the streets. This Hollywood

blockbuster retold the story and for a brief moment, it focused the

world's attention on the country's crisis.

There can be no peace here without clans like the Hawiye. These are

their Godfathers. The rise of the Islamists is forcing them to

TRANSLATION: We can't overcome this as clan factions, only as a

government. We have a government and it is internationally

recognised, but it must get the resource it's needs.

The elders are exhausted by clan conflict. Time and again they

appealed for international support to create a stable central

government. You do not want to see Al-Shabab take control, is that

correct? TRANSLATION: Our country has a seat

at the United Nations. You can't turn it over to terrorists.

The African Union troops, with Western money, are charged with

defeated Al-Shabab. So why hasn't that happened? The force commander

says he asked the UN for 20,000 troops. He was only given 8thoul

and no air support. Nowhere near enough to beat the insurgents

(8,000) Nobody can pretend this is an African problem or this is a

Somali problem. This is an international problem. This mission

is doable. It's not as difficult as people think. It is doable. If we

do not give it the attention it deserves, we will have to regret.

It will grow and it will backfire on all of us. And so this crisis

continues, a bloody stalemate amongst the concrete and dust. I

had hoped to revisit the place my producer was shot, but it was just

It's no wonder why people are so desperate to leave. Many of those

running from Mogadishu head to the northern most tip of Somalia.

Pirates roam these seas. On its shores people crowd in, preparing

for the next stage in their flight. Out this way is the Arabian Gulf.

From there it's Yemen, the Middle East and Europe beyond. It is, in

effect, Land's End. For people here, this isn't far enough. That's where

they're ultimately heading. Countless drown trying to cross the

Gulf. Buried on the beach, in But that doesn't stop people from

trying. Nur Aden has travelled a thousand kilometres from Mogadishu.

He lost his arm and leg in the same artillery strike that killed his

parents. He's determined to cross the sea and get to Europe.

It is so dangerous, why are you prepared to risk your life?

TRANSLATION: They search your house. They come and go. That upsets you.

They come back and beat your wife. That's humiliation. Isn't it better

to risk your life? Maybe you will Each refugee has their own tale of