6 Sep 2010

Somalia’s slide into chaos

International Editor

A cameraman working for Channel 4 News captures Somalia’s brutal descent into anarchy, as International Editor Lindsey Hilsum explains.

Warning: you may find some of the accompanying footage distressing.

Declared the world’s worst failed state, Somalia has been plagued by famine and civil war.

The country has been without a functioning government since 1991.

For two years a cameraman working for Channel 4 News, Abdullahi Farah Duguf, filmed some of the most harrowing moments in his life in Mogadishu.

In his video diary entries, Duguf told his family’s story, sometimes with the sound of loud explosions close by.

“There’s huge fighting going on near my house. You can hear the bullets. We are under attack.”

Channel 4 News cameraman Abdullahi Farah Duguf.

It was not the future Duguf had imagined he would see after filming fighters known as the Islamic Court Union (ICU) battling warlords who had ruled Somalia for 15 years.

The ICU were ultra-religious and disciplined. After they took power the woman of Mogadishu swept peaceful streets.

Footage captured by Duguf exclusively for Channel 4 News revealed Taliban-style rule brought in by the ICU – including the mass destruction of alcohol.

The film also shows veiled women chanting “we want Islamic law, not democracy!”

But it was not to last as Ethiopian troops invaded with American backing in 2006, sparking an Islamic insurgency, plunging Somalia into violence and humanitarian crisis.

Hizbul Islam fighters move to the front line during fighting against Somali Government forces. (Reuters)
Somalia war 2006-2009
The war began in July 2006 when US-backed Ethiopian troops invaded Somalia in support of the Transitional Federal Government against Islamist militia forces aligned to the Islamic Court Union (ICU).

The ICU had seized control of the national capital of Mogadushu earlier in 2006 from a coalition of warlords.

Ethiopia intervened to prevent Islamist forces from gaining full control of Somalia.

In addition to foreign militia fighters, the ICU received support from Eritrea, Ethiopia's long-time enemy.

The Baidoa government and Ethiopia were backed by the United States.

By the end of 2007 the ongoing Islamic resistance bagan to draw comparisons with Iraq's insurgency.

According to human rights groups, 5,960 civilian fatalities occurred in the capital of Mogadishu in 2007.

In January 2009, Ethiopian troops withdrew from Somalia following a two year insurgency.

The TFG is the current (2010) internationally recognised and functioning government, but it still depends on Ethiopia for military backing as combat continues with the Islamic militants.

Duguf explained the new era of heightened danger for journalists and filmmakers like him.

“If you are a cameraman, trying to get pictures, it’s quite dangerous. It’s the most dangerous I have ever experienced in Somalia. You never know who’s your enemy or who’s your friend.”

His film shows Duguf being taken to see the bodies of 16 men, apparently killed by Ethiopian troops angered by an insurgent attack.

From his house he filmed explosions on the horizon. Off-camera his wife said it is time to leave town. Duguf won awards for the pictures of fighting and fires he captured while trying to get his family to safety.

It’s the most dangerous I have ever experienced in Somalia. You never know who’s your enemy or who’s your friend. Abdullahi Farah Duguf

In February 2008, an African Union force arrived in an attempt to support the transitional government and bring calm. Duguf’s family had moved house but found itself close to a new target for the militia fighters – an African Union base.

Eventually Duguf arranges for his wife and children to leave Mogadishu and alone, he filmed the spiralling violence. His footage shows children in hospital injured by bullets and shrapnel.

He also films families fleeing Mogadishu during a lull in fighting – before leaving himself.

Channel 4 News and Abdullahi Farah Duguf went on to win two awards at the Foreign Press Association Media Awards and a prestigious Rory Peck Award for freelance journalism.