Channel4 Report on Somalia

[Abwaan]

you can watch it on this link

 

http://www.channel4.com/player/v2/player.jsp?showId=9604

On tonight's show with Snowmail...

 

Devastating footage from Somalia will be somewhere near the top of our programme tonight. I think probably the lead.

 

The place persists in being far too dangerous for any outsider to risk visiting but one journalist has been able to supply the most harrowing account of human suffering.

 

It's very clear that the American-backed Ethiopian invasion and the attempt to install the Western-backed government that had been holed up in Baidoa has proved a failure and the internecine warfare is as bad as at any time.

 

The one period of order, the six months during which the Islamic courts movement held power with some considerable popular support, is now far behind. The Ethiopians are effectively trapped with long supply lines only sustained with US support.

 

It is one of these tragedies where the West has interfered, supposedly with high intent designed to prevent radical anti-Western elements taking root and has again misjudged the scale of the crisis confronting it.

 

And what we have tonight is very dramatic footage of what, for most of the people living there is everyday life in Mogadishu: dead soldiers on the street; gunfire everywhere; tanks; injured civilians and general human misery.

 

The question is whether Britain and Italy, once the colonial powers, can bring any influence to bear on those who never were to rethink what they are doing. The failed state continues to fail.

 

 

Suffering in Somalia

 

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Last Modified: 10 Oct 2007

By: Nima Elbagir

 

Since the US-backed Ethiopian troops took Mogadishu in December, roadside bombs have become a daily event and it isn't safe after the explosions.

 

Instead of a coalition and a green zone as there is in Baghdad, there is nothing in Somalia to shield the people from the violence.

 

Among those killed by the bombs are those killed by the gunfights. There is no way of verifying the numbers and many families have fled taking with them only stories of missing loved ones.

 

Madina hospital is the only place in Mogadishu to go to if you get caught in the crossfire. The wounded compete for places with the sick.

 

For thousands of Somalis the choice is no longer a difficult one so they brave the scrubland on the outskirts of the city rather then gamble on daily life in the capital.

 

In the absence of aid agencies people rely on what water they can buy and when the money runs out, they beg.

 

Since the Union of Islamic Courts were pushed out at the end of last year the number of those displaced by violence has risen from 500,000 to 1,500,000.

 

Aid agencies estimate that 83,000 children in central and southern Somalia suffer from malnutrition, nearly 14,000 of them are at risk of death and that is in areas where the fighting isn't as bad.

 

For the children of Mogadishu there are no figures. Just a forecast of slow starvation.

 

So why isn't the international community doing more? Maybe it's because footage like this rarely makes it's way onto our screens. The journalists of Somalia have themselves become a target.

 

On August 11, Mahed Ahmed Elmi was shot outside his office at Horn Afrik television station. As his funeral procession pulled away, a bomb exploded under a car killing his friend, the station's co-founder Ali Shamarke.

 

The lawlessness is easily explained. The government forces, because of their Ethiopian troop support, face a coalition of both Islamist and nationalist insurgents. The Ethiopians rarely patrol the city and when they do they lose not only their lives but their boots and anything else the insurgents can use.

 

That leaves the African Union forces as the most visible presence on the streets.

 

The security situation is not only preventing aid agencies from operating but it's also preventing supplies from reaching the city's main market, so even those who have money are finding it difficult to eat.

 

Channel 4 News has learnt that Ethiopian and Somali government troops are forcing traders to dismantle their stalls accusing them of funding the insurgency.

 

Further links related to this article

Channel 4 News

Somalia backgrounder

 

13 die in Somalia violence

[rudy-Diiriye]

total failure tfg puppets killing innocent ppl. time 4 tfg to move where they belong Addis.

[Juje]

He was put to this and I quote

The International Community doesnt have enough confidence in your government (TFG) - your government which was put together in exile and then sent in .

And he failed to respond to that element of truth.

Seed at best was a buffon and at worst had no idea what he was doing there. The positive side of the video clip is making the International community aware what is going on in Xamar through a camera commissioned by an international news portal.

[Allamagan]

Subxanallaah! very disturbing pictures indeed. May Allah help these civilians out of these hard times they facing.

 

Been badanaa xayawaankan kulahaa amxaarada afaaraha soomalida ma soo galaan.

[Suldaanka]

very sad walaahi. These people had everything just over a year ago when the ICU was in control. Their future was bright and they were rebuilding mosques, opening up roads which were blockaded by warlords for over a decade. Mogadishu's markets were bustling with life and economy was booming.

 

Look at it now? its horrendous. And its the international community that is to blame because they sanctioned the illegal Xabashi invasion and bankrolled the former warlords now under the socalled TFG coalition.

 

There will come a time when those responsible for this carnage is brought to justice. Insha allah

[Tahliil]

Listen to this minion, this phony, fake *******, subordinate SOB who thinks the blood of the innocent mothers and children is acceptable, trying to justify the killing fields of Somalia, unforgivably struggling to excuse the horrors these stooges are committing everyday on innocent families...what a shameless prick..

[rudy-Diiriye]

yup, homie was clueless!