Word: mogadishu
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...still possible, this summer, to see some hope in Somalia. The country was in dire need of some. The Ethiopian army, which invaded last December, had killed thousands of Somalis and lost thousands of its own in some of the fiercest fighting that the capital, Mogadishu, had seen in 16 years of civil war. There was also an acute and mounting humanitarian crisis, as hundreds of thousands of refugees fled the capital for makeshift camps in the desert. But an August lull in the fighting allowed Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi to claim violence was ending. And Washington, which sent...
Lately, however, the intrigues and conflicts have intensified. First, in December 2006, Ethiopia invaded Somalia and overthrew the fundamentalist Islamic Courts Union (ICU), which had ruled Somalia for six months. Although the ICU brought the first semblance of law and order to the capital Mogadishu in 15 years, its Islamist ideology caused alarm in Ethiopia. With its troops occupying the country, as they still do, Ethiopia organized its own rendition operation with the cooperation of Kenya and the new government in Somalia it had installed, transferring hundreds of suspected jihadis and their families to jails in Addis and interrogating them...
...Close the door," shouts the lady sitting in front of me. One of her grandchildren quickly obliges and the metal-sheeted door is shut with a squeak. It is mid-day in Somalia's capital Mogadishu, but there is little activity on the usually bustling streets of the neighboring market. Ethiopian soldiers are busy rooting out alleged al-Qaeda terrorists and members of the Islamic Courts Union, which held sway over the city and most of the country until the end of 2006. At the smallest hint of trouble, the soldiers are quick to respond with bursts of gunfire...
...bullet-riddled walls but she prefers to live in its tiny courtyard amidst the chicken that scurry about at her feet. She hasn't budged from this spot for 17 years. But despite a foot injury and her relatively run-down lifestyle, the helicopter woman is renowned here in Mogadishu as a symbol of defiance and resilience for many Somalis in the city. The Somalis who visit the helicopter woman today see her as a symbol of nationalism - and her guardianship of the relic that provides her nickname resonates with Somali belief in their own courage in the face...
...Despite the odds against a band of mostly Somali refugees making its mark on Kenya, Waayaha Cusub has become a popular phenomenon way beyond Little Mogadishu. Ordinary Kenyans can now be overheard enthusing about their music, which is getting a lot of airtime on local and foreign TV and radio stations and provides an unusual twist on hip-hop whose lyrics are delivered in an eclectic mix of Swahili, English and Somali - allowing the band to reach audiences in Kenya, Somalia and the Somali diaspora. Being heard by Somalis back home is important to the band, members say, because...