Posted by Peter Ceresole on November 21, 2008 at 09:51:14 user PeterC.
In Reply to: Re: Modern-day piracy posted by ACB on November 21, 2008 at 05:27:52:
Lovely place. very nice people.
Hmmmm. I spent a day there in (I think) 1998 or 9. We were flown in on a UN-chartered Russian plane, with some Indian soldiers. We went to the Red Cross dispensary to interview Ali Maalin, the last man ever to catch wild smallpox, in 1977; they said they throw a small party for him every year. The advice was, go in, then drive straight back to the airport and leave that same evening, on a Mozambican Hercules. While waiting, we sheltered in the shade of wing of a shot-up Russian transport.
Yes, it was pretty beautiful. Yes, the Somali women looked absolutely unique. But it wasn't very cosy... The taxi was a 'Mogadishu Technical', a Datsun pickup with two Somali kids in the back with Kalashnikovs. The Red Cross one had a proper pedestal mounted machine gun...
I'm glad I've been there, but I'm not crowding to go back.