Holidays In The 'Danger Zone'

[N.O.R.F]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/bbcfour/documentaries/features/places-that-dont-exist.shtml

 

Interview: Simon Reeve

 

BBC Four: Was there one country that was the starting point for thinking about these "places that don't exist"?

Simon Reeve: Yes. A friend of mine mentioned that he was doing business with some Somalilanders. I said, "Somaliland? Where's that?" He said it was a country in the north of Somalia and to my shame I didn't know anything about it. I found out that it's a functioning state within Somalia. It seemed extraordinary to me that there is no real government in Somalia but the world recognises it as a country, and then there's Somaliland which has elections and a functioning democracy, but the world doesn't recognise it as a proper country. It just seemed a very strange situation.

 

hmmmm,,,,,,,,

[N.O.R.F]

BBC Four: Did you have a favourite?

SR: The whole thing was a great adventure frankly and a chance to go to places that very few people get to visit, and to show people countries they've never even heard of. Somaliland was perhaps the highlight because it was incredible to see what the people had achieved with virtually nothing. That was a very moving experience and the people were quite inspirational. They rebuilt their country after a devastating civil war with very little help from the outside world, but with sheer hard work and a belief in their own national identity they've been able to build a functioning state. Speaking on a personal level I find it very sad that their

Tribal elders in Somaliland

requests for international recognition fall on deaf ears. This is a country which has virtually no foreign debt. Now that's rare in Africa and it's primarily because they aren't recognised so the IMF won't give them loans. It also means that there's not a lot of money sloshing around in the government coffers so there's not much corruption. We met the president of Somaliland, which was quite interesting. He made the point that he runs the country on just a few million pounds a year. It seems incredible to us that they can do such things, but everybody accepts that they've got less money.

[N.O.R.F]

BBC Four: I enjoyed your encounter with Mr Big Beard in Somalia.

SR: Yes, buying a Somali diplomatic passport from Mr Big Beard in a Mogadishu back street market was a fairly weird experience.

 

BBC Four: Mogadishu did seem genuinely hairy.

SR: It is a very, very dangerous place. It seems to have been virtually abandoned by the rest of the world precisely because it is so dangerous. That just condemns the people who live there to almost perpetual suffering. It actually made me think of Afghanistan in terms of how the rest of the world was involved there at one point. There was foreign involvement in both Afghanistan and Somalia in the 1980s and then in the early 90s the international community pulled out of both countries. It was still pretty bad when the rest of the world was in Somalia, but then they pulled out and the inhabitants have been left to suffer on their own ever since. I think there is the potential for similar problems to those in Afghanistan if the rest of the world doesn't get involved properly in Somalia.

[N.O.R.F]

BBC Four: I realise that they are all very different, but where do you think these countries are going?

SR: All of these countries have sought independence after a war or major conflict and the threat of a future war hangs over them. Taiwan is the most serious for the rest of the world, because if Taiwan and China go to war, it will drag in other countries in the region, and possibly even the United States. I think Somaliland is a likely candidate for international recognition. The government and the people there have done so much to build a functioning country that it does make you wonder how the rest of the world can ignore them. It's a real African success story.

 

Very heart warming indeed! :cool:

[Jumatatu]

This Programe is on BBC2 tonite at 19:30....for those who are fortunate enough living in the UK..