The South African newspaper 'Business Day' had an account of a Kenyan engineering consultant who recently visited Mogadishu, to check the feasibility of reopening a big multinational firm's manufacturing plant. His chartered flight landed on a main road in the city, which had been blocked on either end to form a runway serving the warlords running that part of a city.
Driven under heavy guard to the plant, the group then went to an Italian restaurant in the city. However, the guests were given a quick lesson in firing automatic weapons in case of attack enroute to lunch. When asked whether the sound of automatic gunfire in the middle of the day would alarm people, the hosts said the sound of gunfire at any time of the day was quite normal in Mogadishu. - Adam Geibel
Mogadishu map, circa 1987, online at:
http://www.swan.ac.uk/cds/02_12_18_ArchivedSite/rd/compositemap.htm
