By Rageh Omaar
ITV
For almost 25 years, Somalia has been a byword for the ultimate failed state; a country where there were no national governing institutions which could ordinary Somalis even the most basic sense of daily security.
Hundreds of thousands of Somalis fled, from the rural farmers to the educated middle classes from cities with the latter escaping in droves to the UK, Scandanavia, North America and Europe.
I’ve just returned from the capital Mogadishu, the city where I was born.
The last time I saw the devastated city when I had just turned 13 on a family holiday just a few years before the civil war broke out.
I remember it as a sun-kissed, carefree city with mile upon mile of white sandy beaches with the warm crystal clear waters of the Indian ocean lapping on its shores.
As I walked back through its many districts, building after building riddled with the scars of years of war, I was struck by how this city and this country is now showing signs of real recovery and optimism.
Only a year ago, vast swathes of Mogadishu were held by the militant Islamist group, al-Shabaab.
Yet today, neighborhoods throughout the city are bustling with normal life.
Restaurants, markets, shops and stores are filled with people trading, shopping and taking in the sights.
Scan the horizon of the city and you are struck by the apartment blocks, offices and shopping malls being built.
President Hassan Sheikh Mohamoud is the first civilian to be elected in a free and fair election to lead the Somali Federal government for 45 years.
He didn’t flee and stayed throughout the civil war.
Read more: Somalia shows signs of recovery
Source: ITV
