The Indian contingent of the UN forces escorts orphaned Somali children to safety in Baidao. In the areas the troops control, their humanitarian approach to the problems faced by the people has won them international acclaim. The Indian contingent of the UN forces escorts orphaned Somali children to safety in Baidao. In the areas the troops control, their humanitarian approach to the problems faced by the people has won them international acclaim.

When the 5,000-strong Indian contingent of the UN forces set up its brigade headquarters in Baidao in September last year, it was known as the city of death. Almost 300 people perished daily of starvation in this key southern Somalian city as famine and civil war ravaged the nation.

Almost a year later, the Indians have transformed it into a city teeming with life. Every morning, over 100 children from an orphanage set up by the contingent jog on its streets for their morning exercise.

Among them is Mahat Xasan, 13, whose parents died in the civil war last year. When the Indians took him in, he was bone-thin and suffering from severe malnutrition. Now he is bubbling with energy and says: "When I grow up I want to study in university and become a teacher like my father."

In the northern end of the city, on an open ground, the camel market is doing bustling business again. Almost two-thirds of the 8-million Somalis are pastor alists and count their wealth according to the number of camels they own.

Wearing a bright red shepherd's cap, Mohammed Hussain Ahmed, who had come to sell his 10 camels, says this is the first time in four years that he is able to trade in them. The price of the camel has quadrupled since then and is now 9,20,000 Somali shillings (US$200 or Rs 6,500).

The wreckage of Somali Air Force fighters destroyed during the civil war in Mogadishu. In sharp contrast to the Indian controlled areas, anarchy still prevails in the capital city and heavily-armed bandits terrorise the streets. The wreckage of Somali Air Force fighters destroyed during the civil war in Mogadishu. In sharp contrast to the Indian controlled areas, anarchy still prevails in the capital city and heavily-armed bandits terrorise the streets.

Elsewhere in the southern Somalian countryside, which the Indian contingent also looks after, there are signs of a major agricultural revival. Situated on the Horn of Africa, Somalia is as big as Andhra Pradesh and the region the contingent controls encompasses a third of the nation's territory.

Its two rivers, the Shebelle and the Juba, flow through the area, making it Somalia's granary. Now, with the country experiencing its first good rainy season in years, the rivers are swollen and the once-dusty and barren landscape has been transformed into a carpet of green. Sugarcane, maize and sorghum - the main crops of Somali farmers - are in full harvest.

Much of the recovery in this region has been possible because the Indian troops have successfully held the major warring factions in check. Avoiding the shoot-first approach of the US troops, which had to leave in humiliation in March, the Indians adopted a strategy of winning over the populace with a minimum show of force and large doses of human kindness.

Says General Mohammed Ibrahim Ahmed Liqliquato, among the most respected neutral Somali leaders: "The Indians took pains to understand our culture and tradition. And coming from a developing country, they also empathised with our problems. They are the most effective among the UN troops."

In sharp contrast is Mogadishu, Somalia's capital, where almost half the 18,000 UN troops, mostly Pakistanis, are stationed. Heavily-armed youngsters sit atop Toyota or Honda pick-up trucks mounted with powerful machine-guns called 'technicals' by the UN forces because of their ingenious design.

The contingent's hospital provides medical help to 600 patients daily. Measures such as these have won the people over The contingent's hospital provides medical help to 600 patients daily. Measures such as these have won the people over

The youngsters roam the streets and regularly indulge in banditry, even ambushing UN convoys carrying supplies of food or medicine. Gun battles are a daily phenomenon. And the civil war has reduced the city into a graveyard of concrete as rival armies destroyed buildings and looted anything of value in them.

With the two major Somali warlords, the legendary General Mohammed Farah Aidid and the former President Ali Mahdi Mohammed, battling it out for supremacy in Mogadishu, the Pakistani contingent has had a tough time trying to quell the strife.

And they are appreciative of Indian efforts. Says Brigadier General Ghulam Ahmed Khan, the Pakistani chief of army staff of the UN forces: "The Indians have done a commendable job in their area by their humanitarian approach."

If the Indian troops are succeeding it is only because they had done their homework well. The contingent was quick to grasp that the Somali crisis was essentially a battle for clan supremacy. "We realised early enough that if we had to maintain order we had to work through the traditional power structure of clans," says Colonel Dinesh Merchant, the deputy commandant of the

Indian contingent. It was not an easy task. Formed thousands of years ago, the clan structure is as complex as the caste system in India. The nomadic Somalis developed it as a protective armour against the harsh ecology of the region.

Indians training Somali policemen to fire Indians training Somali policemen to fire

In this Islamic country, there are basically four major clans - the Daroods, Hawiyes, Reewins and Issaqs. But these have been further divided into more than 200 sub-clans, each with their own customs and leadership.

The British and the Italians, who colonised the country for more than a century, exploited the clan system to divide the people and rule. After its independence in 1960, Said Barre, the dictator who ruled Somalia from 1969 till he was deposed in 1991, also fuelled clan conflicts. And currently, all the 16 major warring political factions are formed on the basis of clan loyalties.

Initially, the UN, especially the US forces, made the major mistake of converting what was essentially a clan war into a personality oriented battle. The US, upset over the way General Aidid thumbed his finger at them, targeted him for attack. Aidid outsmarted the US troops and evaded capture and the Americans had to pull out in disgrace.

The Indians, instead of taking to arms, spent time initially studying who called the shots. They held regular meetings with various clan chiefs and political leaders and had special passes issued which allowed the leaders to meet the army commanders at any time of the day or night.

In the office of Colonel S.S. Mallick, the Bay region commander, a chart containing the entire genealogy of the clans and pictures of its chieftains has been put up to enable officers to keep tabs on shifting loyalties.

Wells dug by Indians supply water to Baidao Wells dug by Indians supply water to Baidao

Ibrahim Mohammed, the Malak Mukhtar Malak or chief of chiefs of the Bay region, says: "Unlike the other UN forces that tried to bypass our authority, the Indians acknowledge our role."

The contingent also decided to remain neutral in the clan warfare and to use minimum force to bring about order. Initially, in fact, the Indians were laughed at and General Mohammed Said Morgan, a powerful factional leader in south Somalia and son-in-law of Said Barre, recalls: "The Indians used to be referred to as tame elephants till they showed us how tough they can really be."

In March, when an Irish convoy being escorted by the Indian Army was ambushed by several heavily-armed technicals near Baidao, Indian troops immediately turned on them, destroying three vehicles, killing nine militia and capturing a dozen others.

Instead of crowing about their success, the troops then called in the clan leaders to explain what had happened and to sort out the issue before it escalated. Recently, in the prosperous Tuba valley when bloody clashes broke out between members of two major factions, the Indian commanders approached clan elders to intervene.

And last fortnight the elders met, along with Indian officers, inside a destroyed basketball court in Bandar Salam and banged their walking sticks in traditional Somali style and agreed to maintain peace.

It was not just in their peacemaking role that Indians excelled. The force had come well-prepared for any exigency and had incorporated battalions with competence in various areas, including the 66th Independent Infantry, the 3rd Mechanised Infantry Battalion, the 320 Field Ambulance, the 7th Light Cavalry and the Indian Engineers.

The Sappers band plays with the local Allardi group The Sappers band plays with the local Allardi group

The force quickly set up a major hospital facility in Baidao and within weeks was treating almost 600 patients a day. And since most of the wells had either dried up or been poisoned during the civil war, army engineers specially brought in a rig from India and learnt to dig wells on the job itself.

With the war creating thousands of orphans, the troops also started an orphanage for over 300 children. Since there was no provision for food, the troops decided to give up a day's ration for the orphanage. The Indians have been helping in other ways as well. They have tried to revive the old police force in the region so that it can handle law and order problems once they move out.

They have set up a veterinary unit in Oddur to treat livestock as these are critical to the local economy. And in a unique effort, the contingent has even revived a popular local singing group called Allardi. Now, along with the Sappers band which the contingent brought down, Allardi belts out patriotic songs regularly.

For Somalis, whose only music for years has been the sound of gunfire, the shows are a big hit. So well-liked are the Indians by the locals that they are fondly referred to as 'Hindis'. Somalis love Indian films and the local make-shift theatre run on diesel generators regularly features Hindi movies.

Pakistani troops initially tried to play the Muslim card in the region. But it didn' t work because most Somalis are not fundamentalists and even allow their women to walk around with their faces uncovered. After some initial tension, the Indians and the Pakistanis have gradvally moved on to a more cordial footing and now even swap movies.

The offices confer wtih clan leaders to end clashes in Bandar Salam. The offices confer wtih clan leaders to end clashes in Bandar Salam.

However, despite the Indian contingent's success, Somalia is still in deep trouble and the troops' good work could easily be nullified. As Brigadier General Mono Bhagat, commandant of the Indian contingent, points out: "There is no quick way out for the country. It is psychologically, physically and politically shattered."

It still has no organised government, no civilian police force and no disciplined national armed force. Meanwhile, all civic facilities such as electricity, water supply and sewerage in its towns and cities, have broken down. Only the militia leaders or the rich use diesel generator sets to keep their lights burning.

Somalia's economy is still in a shambles. All its factories, including food processing units, textiles mills and oil refineries, have been destroyed during the civil war. The banking system is non-existent and inflation is riding at over 100 per cent.

An estimated 3 million people are unemployed. Most of the youths have taken to arms and form the savage new face of Somalia. As Peter Karkolinig, a UN officer in western Somalia, observes: "There is still too much to die for and too little to live for."

With the UN spending over $1 billion in aid to Somalia every year, second only to its operations in Bosnia, the world community is becoming increasingly impatient with the lack of a political solution. Nearby Rwanda, disintegrating under the horrific effects of its civil war, now demands more attention and resources. The US is keen that the UN pulls out its troops from Somalia when its mandate ends on September 30. And India too wants to move out its brigade by then.

However, those dealing with the Somalian crisis know just how disastrous a premature pull-out of UN forces in September could be. With no political institutions in place, the civil war would only intensify and plunge the country into anarchy. It would trigger off the same chain of circumstances that led to almost 3 lakh people dying of starvation last year.

Children at the orphanage run by Indians at Baikal Children at the orphanage run by Indians at Baikal

As Victor Gbeho, the Ghanian diplomat who heads the UN operations in Somalia, says: "We can't turn our back and pull out our troops immediately. That could undo all our past efforts. Yet, it is increasingly difficult for us to get nations to loan troops to us. So we have told the Somali factions that time is running out and they had better reconcile themselves soon."

UN efforts to bring about a reconciliation between the Aidid and Mahdi factions who hold the key to a political solution in Somalia have failed so far. Although the two, along with other factions, have signed agreements in Addis Ababa last year and in Nairobi this March, they have dodged implementing the decisions.

The resultant anarchy has seen many UN soldiers killed, especially in Mogadishu. So far, almost 40 Pakistani soldiers have lost their lives in comparison with two from the Indian Army. But where the efforts of the UN forces from 22 countries have proved successful is in distributing food and medicines. As a result, scenes of starving children dying like flies on the streets are fading rapidly.

Meanwhile, Aidid has of late been making some clever tactical moves that could see him emerge as the most powerful factional leader. He has forged alliances with factional leaders in the north-east and the south. And his army is busy capturing crucial positions in central Somalia.

Ali Mahdi, who suddenly finds the ground slipping from under him, is enraged at the UN stance and says: "They are turning from peacemakers to peace waiters. Bandits loot in front of their eyes and they take no action. This could'start a new war in Somalia."

Indian troops feeding them. Somalia is still in deep trouble and unless a political solution is found quickly, all the Indian efforts could be completely undone. Indian troops feeding them. Somalia is still in deep trouble and unless a political solution is found quickly, all the Indian efforts could be completely undone.

The UN, tired of all the factional fighting, is allowing Aidid to have his way. It will most likely reduce its troop strength by a third from September and is hoping that Aidid's forces will establish control over most of central and southern Somalia by then.

In Juba valley, Yasin Salad Elmi, one of Aidid's key lieutenants, sensing victory, says: "Aidid's popular support is at its peak and the battle will be over once the UN troops start pulling out."

Yet, in the shifting sands of Somali politics nothing is certain. Overnight all the factions may decide to sue for peace. Or the situation could deteriorate into a full-scale civil war.

Sensing this, the Allardi band composed a song last fortnight titled, Hoba heley hedamaraage (If you fight you will see the vulture). One of the verses goes: "There is rain. But where has the rainbow gone?" And as they sing its haunting lyrics, most of them have tears in their eyes.