Shattered Somalia

By ⋅ August 27, 2009 ⋅ Post a comment
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Somalia has experienced almost constant conflict since the collapse of its central government in 1991, and Mogadishu is ground zero for the failed state in East Africa. Writer Robert Draper visited the country for National Geographic Magazine. Katy Clark talked with Draper about his experience in Somalia.

Pictures from Mogadishu (courtesy of National Geographic):

Near the ruins of Somalia's old parliament, an unemployed traffic officer directs traffic for tips from drivers grateful for a sign of normalcy. ©2009 Pascal Maitre / National Geographic

Near the ruins of Somalia's old parliament, an unemployed traffic officer directs traffic for tips from drivers grateful for a sign of normalcy. ©2009 Pascal Maitre / National Geographic

Katy Clark asked Robert Draper about the above picture:

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Ruins overlook streets where fighting tore the Somalia capital, Mogadishu, apart in the early 1990s, leaving the city, and the nation, in chaos. ©2009 Pascal Maitre / National Geographic

Ruins overlook streets where fighting tore the Somalia capital, Mogadishu, apart in the early 1990s, leaving the city, and the nation, in chaos. ©2009 Pascal Maitre / National Geographic

Concealed in the courtyard of his home, a street vendor who has joined the Islamist militia called al Shabaab shows off his gun. The group has fought the newly formed transitional government with bullets, grenade attacks, and roadside bombs, and now controls most of southern Somalia. ©2009 Pascal Maitre / National Geographic

Concealed in the courtyard of his home, a street vendor who has joined the Islamist militia called al Shabaab shows off his gun. The group has fought the newly formed transitional government with bullets, grenade attacks, and roadside bombs, and now controls most of southern Somalia. ©2009 Pascal Maitre / National Geographic

A speeding pickup filled with Transitional Federal Government (TFG) forces narrowly misses women cleaning a capital street. With turmoil all around them, residents barely remember what life under a stable government is like. IMAGES ARE FOR YOUR ONE-TIME EXCLUSIVE USE ONLY AS A TIE-IN WITH THE SEPTEMBER 2009 ISSUE OF NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC MAGAZINE. NO SALES, NO TRANSFERS. ©2009 Pascal Maitre / National Geographic

A speeding pickup filled with Transitional Federal Government (TFG) forces narrowly misses women cleaning a capital street. With turmoil all around them, residents barely remember what life under a stable government is like. ©2009 Pascal Maitre / National Geographic

On the shore children still play, and fishermen drop anchor nearby, but the hulks of derelict hotels stand vacant. ©2009 Pascal Maitre / National Geographic

On the shore children still play, and fishermen drop anchor nearby, but the hulks of derelict hotels stand vacant. ©2009 Pascal Maitre / National Geographic

Many of the roughly 750,000 people who remain in Mogadishu are the poorest of the poor, like the mother and baby sheltering under a bullet-ridden truck at a feeding center. Jobless, often homeless, faced with soaring food prices, they survive on humanitarian relief. ©2009 Pascal Maitre / National Geographic

Many of the roughly 750,000 people who remain in Mogadishu are the poorest of the poor, like the mother and baby sheltering under a bullet-ridden truck at a feeding center. Jobless, often homeless, faced with soaring food prices, they survive on humanitarian relief. ©2009 Pascal Maitre / National Geographic

View more pictures for this story at nationalgeographic.com

Discussion

5 comments for “Shattered Somalia”

  • Mark Elliot

    This story adds nuance to what most Americans see as a failed state somewhere on the other side of the world. While Mr. Draper mentioned a missed opportunity to engage a provisional government there in 2006, the story generally elided the troubled and ongoing involvement in Somalia of the US and particularly the Bush administration, and the destabilizing toll that it has taken – especially the social costs borne by Somalis like the fisherman mentioned.
    Indeed the intro to the story portrayed the recent history of Somalia as a series of events without even suggesting the purposive action by the US there.

  • Mike Ha

    There was no missed opportunity in 2006. In 2006, the Ethiopians removed the then ICU which was not moderate in any way, from power. Mr Draper has got it wrong because the ICU in 2006 was and Al-shebab now is a terrorist organization and both the US, and the Ethiopian government in particular, had no other option when faced with a militant group that was thretening to invade but to remove it from power.

    The ICU is not as much a problem for the US as it is for Ethiopia and Kenya. ICU has no territorial claims over the US therefore the problem is for the two African nations. Rather than facing an established terrorist state that will cost the lives of thousands of their citizens, they chose a broken down system that exsists in Somalia now. One can safely say it is a fact they are distablizing Somalia with the help of the West. Not to leave out Al-Shebab, who aided by Eritrea and many Islamic states of the Middle East and Africa, is doing the same.
    If Mr Draper believes this is not(ICU back in 2006 and Al-shebab now)to create an extrimist Islamist state he is misinformed.

    I was born and raised in that part of the world and I know how we manipulate Westerners who have no clue what the main source of conflict is. Mr Draper is one of those Westerners who seems to believe the 2006 situation was a missed opportunity for rule of law while in fact it was a removal of a terrorist group. All he has to do is look up how many Somalis got the extrimist Islam justice of stoning to death, hands cut off and firing squads for going to the movies or other minor offences. Does that look like a missed opportunity of any kind?

  • Kaalde

    Mike, what do you mean ” we lie to western journalists?” Do you know the current president was the leader of UIC and half of the MPs belong to islamists?” Eithopia had an agenda and Bush adminstration was paranoid. They (Eithopian military)withdrew as Bush finished his second term. Nobody will pay their expenses. 10 million Eithopians are starving, that should be concern for the Eithiopeans. Somalia is now more dangerous than 2006 than ever. When it comes to Alshabab, some of its elements were part of UIC but were not as powerfull as they are now. I pray for the peoples of Horn of Africa become to proclaim their destiny and live in peace and prosperity

  • http://www.facebook.com/sibisi.sibisi Siyabonga Sibisi

    Don’t worry Somalians, God will award you’ll when you get home. He is still God nor matter what.

  • http://www.facebook.com/sibisi.sibisi Siyabonga Sibisi

    Don’t worry Somalians, God will award you’ll when you get home. He is still God nor matter what.