Suffering in Somalia
Updated on 10 October 2007
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.
