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STORY: SOMALIA / NEW DEAL RECOVERY
TRT: 2.24
SOURCE: AU/UN IST
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: SOMALI / ENGLISH/NATS
DATELINE: 15 MAY 2013 / RECENT FILE
1. Wide shot, Mogadishu skyline with new buildings
2. Med shot, Mogadishu town with new buildings
3. Med shot, ongoing building construction
4. Wide shot, traffic on Mogadishu streets
5. Med shot, people and business on the streets
6. Wide shot, Bomb blast scene of the village Restaurant
7. Close up, Bomb blast scene of Village Restaurant with civilians walking through the scene
8. Wide shot, Ahmed Jama preparing a meal at another one of his Village Restaurants
9. Med shot, Ahmed Jama preparing a meal at his hotel the Village
10. Close shot, food being stirred in a frying pan on a stove
11. SOUNDBITE (English) Village restaurant Owner, Ahmed Jama:
"When I opened my restaurant, people said this guy what is he doing is he crazy, something wrong with the guy. Then they realized that it's somewhere you and your family and friends can enjoy. When it was out on the local and international TV’s and to the wider Somalis watch everyone has hope and they say he's done it, so they can come back too and that’s the only reason they target me"
12. Wide shot, people walking along the streets of Mogadishu
13. Med shot, people walking on the streets while others ran their businesses
14. Close up, people walking on the streets on Mogadishu
15. SOUNDBITE (Somali) Ahmed Sheikh Abukar:
“The first priority should be genuine peace and they need to support the government to deal with the security problem. If we get peace we will prosper as a nation. Somalis are business-oriented people and if there is peace the we can rebuild our own nation.”
16. VOX-POP (Somali) Ugaas Ali Hashi Ugaas Ahmed:
“The international community should come up with a solution and save the Somali people if they have respect for Human Rights. That’s my message.”
17. Close up, Village restaurant sign
18. Wide shot, Ahmed Jama preparing cappuccino at the village restaurant
19. Close up shot, cappuccino machine
20. Wide shot, clothes and shoes shop in Mogadishu town
21. Med shot, shop attendant sells to customers
22. Close up, shirts for sale at the shopping complex
Somalia is walking the long path to recovery, turning its back on a destructive past that saw the Horn of African nation dragged through 22 years of civil war, bloodshed and famine. The country has come a long way over the last two years and the changes are evident.
This is the new look of Mogadishu, the nation’s capital, where new buildings transform the skyline and businesses mushroom across the city. Somalis in the Diaspora are coming back home to rebuild their country and bring much need income to fuel the economy.
The country's relative peace is giving confidence to both foreign and domestic investors largely thanks to continued efforts to secure the country from the Al Qaeda linked extremist group al Shabaab. The militant group was forced out of Mogadishu in 2011 and has since lost control of a number of key urban towns across Somalia following sustained military operations by the Somali National Army (SNA) supported by forces of the African Union mission (AMISOM). But the terrorist group still pose a threat to Somalia's fragile security and guarded hope.
This is what remained of a popular Mogadishu restaurant after a double suicide bombing by al Shabaab in early September; the third attack by the group on the Village Restaurant, killing 18 people and injuring dozens more. Ahmed Jama, the restaurant's owner, moved back home to Somalia from London over two years ago, leaving behind his job as a chef to open his chain of seafood restaurants in Mogadishu.
SOUNDBITE (English) Village restaurant Owner, Ahmed Jama:
"When I opened my restaurant, people said this guy what is he doing is he crazy, something wrong with the guy. Then they realized that it's somewhere you and your family and friends can enjoy. When it was out on the local and international TV’s and to the wider Somalis watch everyone has hope and they say he's done it, so they can come back too and that’s the only reason they target me"
Although there have been setbacks, progress is being made under the one-year old federal government led by president Hassan Sheik Mohamud. Once again recognized on the international stage, the European Union and over fifty members of the international community this week (16th September) hosted the “New Deal For Somalia” conference in Brussels that aiming to raise a targeted 1.2 billion Euros in support of Somalia’s reconstruction efforts in line with the EU's New Deal initiative to help countries in fragile and post-conflict situations.
The event hoped to set out a clear political vision of inclusiveness among various federal states in the country with elections planed for 2016. It looked into ways of improving Somalia's internal security, which had deteriorated over the last few months as well as defend its territorial waters. The conference hoped to set economic and developmental goals with the establishment of financial systems that could be held accountable for generating and managing the country’s revenue.
The Somali government had the opportunity to talk to its international partners on strengthening the nation's economic and political institutions and on the way forward to help Somalia’s reconstruction efforts.
Residents in Mogadishu talk about what they hoped the conference would deliver.
Sheikh Ahmed Sheikh Abukar is a former Member of Parliament and he had this to say.
SOUNDBITE (Somali) Ahmed Sheikh Abukar:
“The first priority should be genuine peace and they need to support the government to deal with the security problem. If we get peace we will prosper as a nation. Somalis are business-oriented people and if there is peace the we can rebuild our own nation.”
Ugaas Ali Hashi Ugaas Ahmed had this message for his leaders and the international community.
VOX-POP (Somali) Ugaas Ali Hashi Ugaas Ahmed:
“The international community should come up with a solution and save the Somali people if they have respect for Human Rights. That’s my message.”
Meanwhile for Ahmed Jama and others like him, the challenges remain and rebuilding Somalia after two decades of war will not be an easy task.
Analyst believe that this the best chance Somalia has for peace and for it to rebuilding its political, economic, legal, security and social systems that were ravaged by its long-running civil conflict.
The ‘New Deal’ was created in 2011 by the g7+, a coalition of 19 countries that have experienced conflict in the recent past. The meeting in Brussels will include about 50 delegates from the 28 European Union states as well as from Africa, the United States and Gulf countries.
