in ruins its people scattered and its capital mogadishu widely regarded as the most dangerous place on earth but in two thousand and twelve things began to change a new representative intractable conflicts for the first time in a generation peace in somalia is more than a distant dream or a fond memory it is an achievable reality in this film we explore somalia's  mogadishu people who had been cowed down to submission you knew life could be cut at any time following the fall of somalia's dictatorship in one thousand nine hundred one the country plunged into twenty one years of civil war warlords and islamists fought for control leaving a collapse state unable to protect or provide for its more drought and famine destroyed the lives of millions of somalis and without any functioning government an insurgent group al shabaab seizes an opportunity to rule capturing large swathes of somali territory a transitional federal government is put in place but it is based outside of the country and is a government in name only protected by african union peacekeepers the t f t controls only a few city blocks in mo with the country on the brink of anarchy the united nations refocuses its efforts to promote a viable political process in somalia it is not the number of initiatives for somalia but it's in deficit but but the transitional federal government now in its fifteenth incarnation appears to be stalling because of serious political infighting threatening to split the already fragile administration into the rift wa june two thousand and eleven a conference is organized in kampala by the united nations political office for somalia it is to be attended by somali government representatives and the international community it is minutes it's agreed that within just twelve months a newly appointed parliament will ratify a provisional constitution and transparently select a president and speaker but for political process to succeed the security situation needs to be confronted no one felt in two thousand and eleven that the country was really right  to move to transition the security conditions that prevailed were just simply want can juice you can't separate the security from from the political you have to create the conditions the security conditions for the political process to to actually proceed the african union forces had arrived in two thousand and seven to bring stability to somalia it was a struggle to secure even mogadishu itself head to head slow clearance of the city i mean some troops supporting the somali national forces recapture areas of mogadishu formally under our control bringing together all major political players from across the malia as well as international partners holding such a high profile event in mogadishu would have been unthinkable just a few weeks for the first time in two decades representatives of major regional administrations such as point land as well as the moderate religious group come together with the transitional federal government in a spirit of unity for peace region and the international community that change is coming we want to send a message that this was a different process a process with integrity a process with transparency the meeting ambitious plan called the road map it sets out benchmarks in the key areas of good governance reconciliation constitutional reform and security and critically it sets a  august two thousand and twelve to complete the transitional tasks somali civil society is widely consulted in preparing the document and with assistance from the international community the road map will be owned by and driven by the somali people key somali political players known as principals sign a document holding them to account for its deliver process in december two thousand and eleven the united nations secretary general makes a landmark visit to mogadishu confirming the un's commitment to the road map and to somalia i will always think t was another option the ongoing security threats rules out the possibility of public elections however the appointment of a new parliament to represent the somali people is a key milestone of the roadmap to ensure that their voices are heard in their government the somalis turn to their traditional authorities the powerful and respected plan elders to nominate candidates for the new parliament criteria defined by a group called the technical selection committee peter de clercq sat on the committee to nonvoting members including myself the technical selection committee is main responsibility is ensuring that all candidates are well educated and fully qualified and a key provision of the roadmap replaced they actually did that but not everyone in somalia is pleased with this democratic and transparent approach to political  transition begins to strike back many of the main stakeholders of the road map process are directly targeted by the insurgents there was a huge explosion a suicide bomb people went ducking the windows were smashed and i was terrified my life was  vigorous we became that we're not going to be scared from those people who had threatened the people many years they want to kill us let it get this is our time is up but it is this time that we need to be on the before the constitution is adopted it needs to be ratified by a wide range of stakeholders called the national constituent assembly eight hundred twenty five representatives of all strata of somali civil society convene in mogadishu to read and then vote on whether or not to adopt the provisional constitution  but getting agreement on some of the more contentious issues contained within the constitution will not be easy the issue of women's participation in government will also prove controversial the somali women for the last twenty years that their political capital has declined young ladies were sent to school jobs have been lost you know completely male dominated one of the elders came to me and i  eventually after eight days intense deliberation the prime minister announces the conclusion the the hours were very well aware that we had a deadline to meet so that by not budging in the end they were likely to get things their way if they were not inclined to let women into either to consider an assembly or parliament so at the end of the day the thirty percent was a line be good not hold even with the strong intervention of our colleagues our female colleagues fifteen percent to me is much acceptable then what it used to be the one before that i think it was like two or three percent so it's and now my advice to the somali woman is now you have four years to build your political capital the selected two hundred seventy five parliamentarians are a mix of former government officials professionals civil servants the business community women's groups and social activists they are also the most this process would have been stopped near collapse we decided to get this wearing in done at the airport n the four main contenders for presidency include the incumbent and favorite to win shake shareef shake our heads for prime minister  process moved into a decisive people to get stronger and stronger positions the methods deployed more and more intimidating and sometimes very very negative almost a year progress hangs in the balance it is the defining moment for the somalia peace process but there are rumors of corruption and intimidation to elicit votes there were rumors that those people who could is overwhelmingly chosen as the new president of somalia the real success of this election is not about the winner is how well the with the world watching the president is sworn in on sixteen september abdi from burma town in northwest somalia often faces ridicule and insults at school simply because she wasn't circumcised a few months ago she was rescued from the razorblades by a group of community facilitators trained to encourage communities to recognize that female circumcision or cussing as it's known is a violation of the girls rights heidi it is scared of being circumcised but the pressure at the women also distribute pamphlets to the girls with detailed information about procedures which are usually undertaken when the girls are between ten and fourteen these school sessions are intended to help the girls understand problems associated with cutting in the hope that that abandon the practice in the future when they themselves become mothers however the girls who have undergone it already experiencing difficulties when  religious obligation the campaign against cutting in somalia has brought together religious scholars and leaders to emphasize that religion doesn't support the cutting campaign to abandon the practice is reaching remote areas unicef's partner the african network for the prevention and protection against child abuse and neglect has used plays in hospitals and marketplaces to sensitize people on the dangers of the practice and to change the long held cultural beliefs that sustain it unicef is also working with health workers to target mothers who come for antenatal treatment and care in the process of treatment medical complications associated with cutting the campaign also targets those who carry out the procedure explaining the harm it does to girls however for many practitioners it provides a crucial so is carried out in private homes it is difficult to monitor in reality this little protection for girls who suffer from these hall full practices unicef and its partners have established local groups to help the communities make an informed and