Much of this fractured country has not found peace, as fighting between groups loyal to clan leaders Mohamed Farah Aideed and Ali Mohamed Mahdi continues. Since U.N. peacekeepers left Somalia a year ago, Mogadishu, its capital, has remained the country's most unstable area. Mogadishu's port, once Somalia's most important, is closed, and thousands of the city's residents have bolted for the countryside. Burst of fighting still ripple through Somalia's rural areas, but some communities have carved out a semblance of normalcy. They have formed governing authorities.
Schools are open.
Police forces are set in place. Hotels, some with satellite dishes, have sprouted all over town. Piles of rock, signifying places where residents are about to build, litter the city. Trucks, hauling goods and construction material, clog roads. Boosaaso's population estimated at 100,000, has increased fivefold since Somalia's government disintegrated.