Anarchy rules Somalia

2003-10-03 08:44

Mogadishu, Somalia - Ali Shera and Musa Hussein point to the wreckage of an American Black Hawk helicopter tangled in a large prickly pear cactus, the only remaining evidence of a battle on this dusty side-street a decade ago that left 18 US soldiers dead.

On October 3, 1993, Shera was a lieutenant in Mohamed Farah Aidid's militia, and Hussein was a streetfighter toting a Kalashnikov assault rifle. They said they rejoiced when they won the 19-hour battle against the world's only superpower.

"You can imagine Somalia, a small nation, we beat the most powerful country in the world," Shera, now 41, said. "For us, we were very happy we beat the Americans.'

In the years since then, though, they have come to hate the militias that still prowl Mogadishu's streets and the anarchy that prevents Somalia from rising above being the prototypical failed state. Shera and Hussein said they have seen too much death and destruction, especially in clan fighting.

We hate to carry guns

"Now we are tired, we've fought each other, and we can't defeat each other," said Hussein, 34, who along with Shera is now unemployed. "We hate to carry guns anymore.'

While most of the aluminium from the Black Hawk's wreckage - one of the two US helicopters shot down - has been cut away to make kitchen utensils, one of the jet engines remains, along with the floorboard and a steel beam from the frame - most of it concealed by the overgrown cactus.

In a way, the carving up of the Black Hawk and its cactus cage serve as an analogy for what has happened to this country in the Horn of Africa.

Before dictator Mohamed Siad Barre was ousted in 1991, he had cultivated distrust and hatred among Somalia's six major clans. Since then, continued fighting among the clans has only exacerbated the distrust. More than a dozen separate peace talks have failed to restore order and a central government.

Seven faction leaders have divided up Mogadishu, and while it is possible to pass from one neighbourhood to another, Somalis need to be careful with whom they do business or how long they stay in a neighbourhood that isn't theirs.

Darkness and fear

At night, it is easy to tell good neighbourhoods from bad. The better ones have diesel generators for electricity, and people walk the streets. But in the Medina district - controlled by warlord Muse Sude Yalahow - there is only darkness and fear of his notoriously undisciplined gunmen.

The capital's main seaport and airport remain closed, primarily because no sub-clan can claim total control of them. All foreign cargo and international travellers must pass through one of the ports controlled by a single sub-clan-based faction, which collects user fees. The same system applies to highways, where gunmen set up checkpoints.

One result - which makes terrorism experts lose sleep at night - is that anyone willing to pay the fees can enter Somalia. There is no government to issue visas or immigration officers to check passports at the country's five functioning airports or the hundreds of seaports.

While Somalis deny that any international terrorists live in Somalia - and there is no evidence of terrorist training camps or offices - at least one suspected al-Qaeda member has been snatched from the country and another reportedly has been spotted in Mogadishu.

Gunmen loyal to faction leader Muhammed Dheere captured a Yemeni named Suleiman Abdalla Salim Hemed in March. Authorities in neighbouring Kenya claimed credit for arranging Hemed's capture. They said he provided them with "useful information" about the 1998 US Embassy bombings in Kenya and Tanzania as well as leads in the investigation into the attack last November on an Israeli tourist hotel north of the Kenyan port of Mombasa and the unsuccessful attempt to shoot down an Israeli airliner.

The Kenyan minister in charge of national security, Chris Murungaru, said in a statement that Hemed was later turned over to US authorities. American officials have refused to comment on Hemed, and his current location in unknown.

Seen in Mogadishu

Fazul Abdullah Mohammed, under US indictment for the 1998 embassy bombings and a suspect in last November's attacks, has reportedly been seen in Mogadishu, but he remains at large.

Somalis are very aware of the US anti-terror campaign and know the United States is watching them. In interviews, they are quick to point out that Somalia is a small, ethnically homogenous country, making it nearly impossible for a foreigner to walk the streets without being noticed. They insist that no more than a handful of people could secretly enter the country and even then they would have to remain in hiding.

"It is possible they are here," Hussein acknowledged. "But everybody in Mogadishu knows that if you capture an Arab man and say, "I have a terrorist for the CIA in America," they will send a plane for him. But nobody knows if he was really al-Qaeda or not.'

As for Shera and Hussein, they hold no ill will toward the United States, though they say the Bush administration's anti-terror campaign too heavy-handed. They said they would like Somalia to have normal relations with America.

"After the war ended between the Somalis and the Americans, we forgot everything," Shera said. "That was 10 years ago; I hope we can solve these problems and sit down and talk together."

- AP