Black Hawk Down 2001 - Jan Egeland - K’naan - Ayaan Hirsi Ali - Wilbur Smith - Dirty Wars: The World is a Battlefield 2013 - Simon Reeve TV - Africa with Ade Adepitan TV - Captive 2016 - Secret Wars Uncovered TV -
Somalia, east Africa, 1992: Years of warfare among rival clans causes famine on a biblical scale. 300,000 civilians died of starvation. Black Hawk Down 2001 starring Orlando Bloom & Ewan McGregor & Josh Hartnett & Eric Bana & Tim Sizemore & William Fichtner & Sam Shepard & Kim Coates & Hugh Dancy et al, director Ridley Scott, opening caption
In Somalia, killing is negotiation. ibid. baddie to captive
During the raid over 1,000 Somalis died and 19 American soldiers lost their lives. ibid. caption
I think the biggest challenge for Somalia has been the sense that it is a hopeless case of incomprehensible internal conflicts and there is nothing we can do. Jan Egeland
8The people of Somalia just do not have a voice. They are to me the most forgotten people in the world. K’naan
I don’t have much in me left for Somalia, because the country is so broken; it’s not realistic to daydream about it. Ayaan Hirsi Ali
The really disturbing thing about Somalia is that in a country where there are few economic opportunities, pirates are perceived as glamorous and are held in awe by young boys who aspire to their lifestyle. Wilbur Smith
For over a decade JSOC and the CIA had free reign in Somalia. All their tactics were on display: drone strikes, night raids, mercenaries. As the War on Terror entered a second decade Somalia seemed like a laboratory of the future. And the future looked bleak. Dirty Wars: The World is a Battlefield, 2013
There are almost 200 official countries in the world today but there are dozens more breakaway states determined to be separate. Simon Reeve, Holidays in the Danger Zone: Places that Don’t Exist I: Somaliland, BBC 2005
Somalia is one of the poorest and most dangerous countries in the world but within this land there is a stable working democracy: the breakaway state called Somaliland which no other nation recognises as a proper country. ibid.
Mogadishu is in a state of anarchy; there’s no real government in Somalia and instead warlords control their own territory. ibid.
The early ’90s when US troops led a failed UN attempt to bring order to the country. ibid.
Somaliland split from Somalia and declared independence in 1991 but then had to fight a war against the Somali dictator. ibid.
Until recently Somalia was ruled by an Islamic terror group called al-Shabaab. But since 2007 an African military force called Amison [African Union Mission to Somalia] has been fighting to get the country back under control. Africa with Ade Adepitan III, BBC 2019
Paul & Rachel Chandler: I heard a small boat approaching fast. I realised then it was something horrible. I’d never had guns pointed at me before. Captive III: Taken at Sea, Somalia, Rachel, Netflix 2016
London: By late autumn 2009 what we were seeing was waves of attacks in the Indian Oceans on primarily commercial vessels. ibid. Stephen Askins, maritime lawyer
Somalia is like the wild west. ibid. Somalian
It’s big business and a growing threat. ibid. news
Seven Somali pirates suspected of kidnapping Paul and Rachel are now in prison. None of them have ever been charged with the kidnap. Twenty-six hostages kidnapped by Somali pirates remain in captivity. Stephen has never asked to be repaid. ibid. captions
The Navy in Somalia has been disbanded and nobody protects its waters … The Somali piracy industry: a trade that’s been created by the war. Behind these criminal actions are the warlord’s militia who have more ambitious goals. Secret Wars Uncovered s1e3: Somalia Pirates & Black Hawk Down, History 2020
1992: President George Bush orders American troops into Somalia. This failed east African state is being torn apart by warlords. But Operation Restore Hope is to go badly wrong. 11 months later in October 1993 two US army helicopters are shot down over Mogadishu … The United States are still operating in Somalia. Only this time it’s in the shadows. ibid.
On gaining independence in 1960, British Somaliland merges with Italian Somaliliand creating a new republic called Somalia. On paper this should be a happy union. ibid.
Somalia is consumed with an all-out civil war … The people of Somalia suffer and starve. ibid.
The UN leaves a country without fulfilling its aims. The nation-building that was promised hasn’t been delivered. Its well-intentioned foreign intervention is a fiasco. ibid.
Ethiopian troops are already secretly crossing the border into Somalia. ibid.