Inside Mogadishu: One Journalist's Dangerous Journey
ABC News talks with Aidan Hartley, the man behind "Warlords Next Door?"
NAIROBI, Kenya, June 12, 2008 — -- British author and journalist Aidan Hartley has been covering Somalia for nearly 20 years. He recently released a TV documentary called "Warlords Next Door?" which spawned controversy when it aired last month on the Britain's Channel 4.
"Warlords" focuses on the relationship between the British government and four prominent politicians in the current Somali government, including the provisional president, Abdullahi Yusuf Ahmed.
Among other things, Hartley reports that these leaders have been granted British or EU passports that allow their families to live comfortable lives in the U.K., while the horrors faced by Somali civilians continue, under their watch.
Somalia has not had a functioning government since 1991.
The country's transitional government, along with troops from Ethiopia and backing from Western governments like the United States and Britain, is mired in a guerilla war with Islamic insurgents who supported the previous Islamic leadership.
Thousands of civilians have been killed and hundreds of thousands displaced, and the security situation is so bad that the United Nations calls the country "the worst humanitarian crisis in Africa."
Few Western journalists even venture to Mogadishu, Somalia's capital.
Hartley went to the city to interview Somalis who have been victims of the war, and to question Somali politicians about their alleged ties with Britain. He talked to ABC News about his experience.
What drew you to make "Warlords Next Door?"
HARTLEY: I've been reporting on Somalia since the beginning of the civil war in 1991. I always felt it wasn't receiving enough international coverage. I've been pushing to get this film made more than a year ago, after the Ethiopian invasion that seized the city and installed the new government. It is very difficult to get Somalia on the international news agenda.
Why do you think Somalia is not covered as much as other conflicts?
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