The Rahanwein Resistance Army, the militia representing the clan of the same name, took the central town of Baidoa in June. With backing from the Ethiopian Army, the RRA now is threatening to take Bale Dogle. We drive about a mile past the rubble of old buildings and the gutted husk of a MiG fighter to the perimeter of the air base. Most of them are dead, and those who survived want to live. Hassan tells us that he made the mistake of traveling with guards in just one vehicle.
Defense has to come from the escort car.
Not five minutes later, we realize that we've lost our escort and pull to the side of the road. Once swarming with relief workers, Mogadishu these days is out of bounds for nearly all foreigners. Journalists occasionally drop in, but the media horde is long gone. Where once the city was a battleground for two main militias and their subclans, now at least five militias claim vaguely defined pockets as their own. Western intelligence agencies believe that Osama bin Laden, the Saudi exile who allegedly masterminded the bombings of U.S. Embassies in Kenya and Tanzania last year, visited Mogadishu seven months ago.