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Mogadishu: A short history of a long war (INFOGRAPHIC)

Kyle KimAugust 9, 2012 06:00

With Al Shabaab on the run, a relative peace has returned to Mogadishu, Somalia's capital. A GlobalPost infographic charts the country's two decades of conflict.

In-Depth Series: The New Mogadishu

Tristan McConnellAugust 8, 2012 13:17

MOGADISHU — After two decades of civil war, a relative peace has come to Mogadishu. Al Shabaab, the Al Qaeda affiliate, has been driven out of Somalia's capital and a political process is underway to form a new democratic government. Feeling safe for the first time in years, many Somalis are again venturing out, opening up businesses and rebuilding their lives.

Making money in Somalia

Tristan McConnellAugust 9, 2012 06:00

MOGADISHU, Somalia — Liban Egal grew up amid the oily clatter of hulking iron letterpresses in his father’s shop behind one of Mogadishu’s main junctions. After years in self-imposed exile from Somalia’s violent anarchy, Egal, like others in the far-flung diaspora, has come home hoping to put an end to his country’s reputation as a “failed state” and make some money while he’s at it.

Somalia’s brave new world

Tristan McConnellAugust 9, 2012 06:00

MOGADISHU, Somalia — In a field of dozens of candidates, President Sheikh Sharif Ahmed is confident of re-election later this month. It’s a sign that while in many ways everything is changing for Somalia, in other ways nothing is. In Mogadishu’s corridors of power, all the talk is of “ending the transition.” The political jostling is frenetic. But widely reported corruption is dashing the hopes of many here.

Mogadishu: This is the life

Tristan McConnellAugust 9, 2012 06:00

MOGADISHU — Since the withdrawal of Islamist militants a year ago, Mogadishu is awakening from two decades of civil war, blinking its eyes and shaking the trauma from its bones. Long synonymous with war, resident say that Mogadishu is now changing with breathtaking speed.

Mogadishu's Super Troopers

Tristan McConnellAugust 9, 2012 06:00

MOGADISHU — Maj. Ali Mohamed Salal is the commander of one of 16 district police stations in Mogadishu. He has 150 disheveled officers, three stinking prison cells and one battered vehicle. Until a couple of weeks ago he hadn’t been paid his $150 salary in eight months. With the war now over, securing Mogadishu increasingly falls to the poorly-equipped and sporadically-paid police force.

The New Mogadishu

Tristan McConnellAugust 9, 2012 06:00

With Al Shabaab largely withdrawn from Mogadishu, a city once synonymous with war is slowly getting to know peace.

What it's like being governed by Al Qaeda

Tristan McConnellJuly 24, 2012 06:00

RAS KAMBONI, Somalia — The port town of Kismayo on Somalia’s southern coast must be among the worst places on the planet to live right now. Not only is it governed by the fanatical Al Qaeda spinoff Al Shabaab, it is also a battleground where a regional coalition of African armies is fighting the extremist group. The testimony of fleeing residents is now providing a rare insight into what it’s like to live under the rule of Al Qaeda.

After Somalia famine, new horrors

Tristan McConnellJuly 20, 2012 16:13

MOGADISHU, Somalia — When a drought became famine here last year, hundreds of thousands of people bundled together what few belongings they had and began to walk, either across the border or toward Mogadishu, searching for food. The good news it that although hunger remains, the famine has abated. The bad news is that for the women and girls still living in the refugee camps, another horror has taken hold: rape.

Peace, but little else in rural Somalia

Tristan McConnellJuly 13, 2012 06:00

RAS KAMBONI, Somalia — Last year, the main problem in this rural corner of Somalia was Al Shabaab, the country's resident Al Qaeda affiliate. Now it’s everything else. “The main problems here are lack of water, medicine, education and food,” said Ali Mansour, a local elder. “We don’t take baths or wash our clothes. We live here like animals. Our children are all fishermen, not students.”