The forgotten country

There is a country that has had no effective government for 17 years. It has been ruled - if that is what it is called - by armed militia representing various clans and financed by crime. Yet the world has turned its back on what is going on there, leaving criminals to rule. The country is Somalia.

Few know the complex history of Somalia. Even fewer possibly will care or be able to identify its location on a map - but it does exist, of sorts. With rampant "killings, torture, rape, beatings, arbitrary detentions and forced disappearances" according to human rights group Amnesty International, it is little wonder that so many governments have given up on Somalia. It is likely such reasoning is motivated by the response US Marines received all those years ago, now documented in the Hollywood film Black Hawk Down, which inspired the US to wash its hands of the country, never to return.

For 17 months Ethiopia says it has been attempting to restore order in Somalia, but Amnesty International claims Ethiopian troops can equally be blamed for much of the abuses that take place. Peace talks are due to start in Djibouti but there are already doubts on who will attend.