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CNN Live At Daybreak

War on Terrorism May Go to Somalia

Aired January 17, 2002 - 05:31   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: While the United States conducts its War on Terrorism in Afghanistan, there has been talk about moving the fight to Somalia. Somalia, an impoverished nation, says it has taken steps to prevent terrorism from operating in its midst.

CNN's Christiane Amanpour reports from Mogadishu.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Mogadishu's beleaguered traffic police fight a losing battle at one of the city's main intersections. Somalia is a collapsed state with no central government or authority, and where the weapon is a law unto itself. Officials, businessmen and even journalists still can only operate with armed escorts in vehicles known as technicals, bristling with Kalashnikovs and heavy machine guns.

But there does now appear to be a new level of friendliness and security in this capital, since what's called the transitional national government took power a year-and-a-half ago. So far, it only controls most of the capital, but is trying to impose security here by hiring militias off the streets and training them for the new police force. So far, only 3,500 out of an estimated 20,000 militiamen are enrolled. The government doesn't have the money to hire more. These recruits haven't been paid in four months, and their new weapons look a lot like their old ones.

ABDIHASSAN AWALE, MOGADISHU POLICE CHIEF: He has to hand over the gun to the government. After 90 days, we provided the guns again for them. (UNINTELLIGIBLE) again because the government has no weapon to provide the police, and this is the situation.

AMANPOUR: Nonetheless, the police chief says crime in the city has dropped over the last year. He wants to crack down on illegal businesses, like this entrepreneur issuing false passports, especially as the government says it wants to help the U.S. hunt for al Qaeda. The chief shows us the files of 12 Arabs, who have been arrested and are under investigation, a Saudi, a Palestinian, eight Iraqis and two Kurds. But like most Somalis, he swears neither Osama bin Laden nor any of his henchmen could hide here.

Although a visiting U.S. official said recently that Mogadishu harbored no al Qaeda centers, Somalia factions are jockeying for favor with the U.S., eager to be spared bombing and to engage American support.

ABDULKASSIM SALAT HASSAN, PRES. TRANSITIONAL NATL. GOVT.: There is no need for American forces. We need the American presence, but we need the American help, the American assistance, the American friendship, because the Somalia people is to the American people.

AMANPOUR: At the site of the 1993 helicopter crash, and the battle that left 18 American soldiers dead and a policy in tatters, there is no shrine, no monument. In fact, you can barely pick out parts anymore for the giant cactus plant that now hides the wreckage.

(on camera): Perhaps this overgrown heap is the perfect metaphor for what Somalis tell us they feel about America today. That they are tired of fighting, that they want to put this terrible incident behind them. They want to forget it and try to open a new chapter in their relations with the United States.

(voice-over): Somalia is an Islamic country, but it's not fundamentalist. At the police academy, the chief is eager to show off this sergeant, a woman. We are not like the Taliban, he says. At weddings and other social gatherings, as well as at work, women and men mix in public. And though Somalia did have its own domestic Islamic movement known as al-Itihaad al-Islamiya, the government says it's being disbanded, its members mostly absorbed into society. Today, they say, Somalia wants to be rescued from itself.

Christiane Amanpour, CNN, Mogadishu.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COSTELLO: And Christiane will have more from Mogadishu this evening. Tune in for "LIVE FROM SOMALIA" on "CNN TONIGHT" at 8:00 p.m. Eastern Time.

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