In April, foreign donors pledged $200m in support of Somalias so-called government. In this rare glimpse of the war and anarchy that has torn the countrys heart out, foreign aid is nowhere to be seen.
For 18 years Somalia has been at war with itself. Weve really seen everything: hunger, death, everything, says one Somalian, looking at the ruins of capital Mogadishu. With the city embroiled in a turf war, and civilians constantly caught in the crossfire, 18 000 shell-shocked Somalians have fled. The bullet went in her neck, she cant move says one nurse about a 12-year-old girl in this Somalian hospital. They have space for 80 patients here yet they treat over 200, despite threats from Islamist insurgents accusing the doctors of treating unbelievers. Theres a semblance of organisation amongst Mogadishus ruins. One large building without any windows is the nerve-centre of the Somali army. Even if they are wearing the caps of Spanish football team, Real Madrid and their entire fleet has been stolen by pirates, the Somali Navy are optimistic. Somalias government now controls about 1/3 of the country, their gunmen are armed by the US who fear Al Qaedas arrival. Yet the deputy Prime Minster says that Al Qaeda is already here and that the West has failed them: All of the military of Iraq, of Afghanistan, havent been able to defeat them, so what do you expect from a country, which has never been given the same support? he asks.