'It was either killed or be killed' - ongoing nightmares of an ex-child soldier in Somalia Mohamed GabobeMogadishuGetty ImagesFighters from the Union of Islamic Courts took control of Mogadishu in June 2006Shopkeeper Yusuf Ali still battles with memories of his time as a child soldier fighting on the streets of Somalia's capital, Mogadishu.The 34-year-old became embroiled in the Islamist insurgency, which erupted nearly 20 years ago, and while the city's urban landscape is healing, few resources are devoted to those still suffering with the psychological scars of the conflict.Warning: This article contains details some readers may find upsetting.When he was 14 years old, a coalition of Sharia courts seized power in Somalia and provided some sense of stability in a country that had been riven by devastating clan warfare since the regime of President Siad Barre collapsed in 1991.But the Union of Islamic Courts (UIC) marked the first instance of political Islam gaining a foothold in the African continent since al-Qaeda's 11 September 2001 attacks on the US.Policymakers in Washington viewed the UIC with hostility, accusing it of having ties to al-Qaeda. Its military youth wing was known as al-Shabab, meaning "The Lads".In December 2006, thousands of Ethiopian troops invaded Somalia under the cover of American drones with the aim of toppling the courts just six months after they had taken over.Ethiopia's invasion was deeply unpopular in Somalia and was met with fierce opposition as al-Shabab and its allies, including a coalition of splinter groups known as the Muqawama, meaning "Resistance", clubbed together to fight it.At the time Ali lived in Huriwaa, an impoverished district in the north of Mogadishu.Aged one, he had lost his father - killed while taking part in what has been dubbed the "Battle of Mogadishu", when Somali fighters infamously clashed with US soldiers after the downing of two American Black Hawk helicopters.It was hard growing up without his dad, but it was the guerrilla warfare that overtook Mogadishu during the Ethiopian invasion that changed him forever.AFP via ImagesHundreds of thousands fled to Elasha Biyaha, setting up makeshift shelters to escape the fighting in Mogadishu"At night, I'd often hear a buzzing sound. I was in secondary school and didn't realise it then, but these were planes surveilling our neighbourhood," Ali tells the BBC.By the spring of 2007, fighting intensified with heavy shelling and bombardment of densely populated civilian neighbourhoods suspected of sheltering insurgents."On one of the nights, a large barrage of shells hit our area and some of them struck our neighbour's house.
Our house shook and I felt like the soil under my feet had moved - then I started hearing screams," Ali recalls.Frantic residents struggled to lift the rubble and that was when he saw a lifeless body."Someone aimed a torch and I saw blood stains and a body lying nearby. A young girl that looked around my age, but she wasn't moving. I've seen death, but nothing prepared me for that night."The family fled to the Elasha Biyaha district north-west of Mogadishu, which had become a refuge for hundreds of thousands of people.But many young people, including boys his age, were eager to return to the city and fight those referred to as "Gaalo" - a term in the Somali language meaning infidels, used to refer to non-Muslims."From the sermons at the mosque that called on people to defend their country from the Gaalo, everyone was fired up," he says.This drew him to Muqawama, which included former army commanders."They trained us in small arms fire… We practised hit-and-run attacks," he says.Ali, by now aged 16, then found himself in Mogadishu with other young combatants engaged in urban warfare.
They were given guns - but not paid - and would eat together with the other fighters.MCT/Getty ImagesFollowing the collapse of Somalia's government in 1991 it was easy to buy a weapon in MogadishuSome of those he was trained to kill were also young, including Somali soldiers allied to the transitional government who were fighting alongside Ethiopia troops."Street by street, from windows and doorways, we were firing on Ethiopian soldiers and the Somali soldiers with them," he says."At times I'd find myself shooting… and as we advanced and noticed a dead [Somali] soldier was around my age, I paused but then would keep moving because the fighting was so intense. It was either killed or be killed - and this was a cause we were willing to die for."He says Somalis fighting on the side of the Ethiopians were viewed as traitors for "betraying their country". The transitional government was recognised by the United Nations, US and other Western countries as Somalia's legitimate authority.From 2007 to 2009 Mogadishu was largely reduced to rubble.
Ethiopia, backed by the US, found itself coming under growing international scrutiny over its intervention in Somalia, as accusations of war crimes committed by all warring parties intensified.Its army eventually withdrew and the Islamist militants left behind splintered and turned against each other. One moderate faction joined the interim government against the hardliners.Ali found himself at a crossroads, questioning if it was a war worth fighting: "Some of the men I fought alongside were now fighting their former comrades."My mother and siblings wanted better for me. And so did my uncle - and he urged my family to let me go to South Africa and live with him to start afresh."In 2009, Ali was smuggled to Johannesburg by road where he remained for five years working in his uncle's shop.But xenophobic attacks in South Africa - that often target outlets owned by foreigners - drove him home to Mogadishu.He found a city rebuilding itself: a functioning airport, paved roads some lined with restaurants and street lighting keeping once-feared neighbourhoods alight after dark.But politically it was a mess.
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