Read Online The First End by Victor Elmalih - Free Book Online Page B

and gold. The Arab traders
settled on the Somali coast and Islam became the main religion from
the thirteenth century on. Overtime, several countries became
interested in the cost of Somalia, including Portugal—their
settlement efforts failed—and even Italy, led by Mussolini, managed
to acquire several territories in the region. The same coast is
still the envy of many nations, but this time, for different
reasons, it’s use as a dump.”
    “A country without rules, without state! How
could that happen?” wondered Lorna.
    “In 1969, General Mohamed Siyad Barre seized
power in a coup d’état and replaced the democratically elected
government. Barre forged close ties with the USSR and declared the
country socialist. Somalia then brokered a deal with the Russians,
who had supported the Marxist government of Ethiopia during the
conflict over the control of the Ogaden, an Ethiopian territory.
Each time, the town of Merca tries to recover its glorious past and
heal. Attempts were made to revive the city. They even tried to
brag about the beautiful coast of the town to attract foreigners
without success. The warlords are sometimes discreet, but they
control everything. In Merca, terrorist are scattered among the
population…not that easy to spot.”
    “I can’t imagine how these guys control just
about everything!” Lorna mumbled.
    Bill nodded. “I know. But the war lasted several
years. The Ogaden conflict lead to the removal of Barre and has
weakened the country, resulting in a political vacuum and a
catastrophic economic situation that seems to last forever. Famine
has become the staple diet here. The country fell under the rule of
warlords whose sole purpose seems to be illegal gain and plunder.
Al-Shabab took control. Somalia is now a failed state.”
    They arrived at the dump and Lorna immediately
got out and looked around. “The bodies were reported found over
there,” Lorna said, stepping up next to him. Lorna was a short
woman, not very attractive, but with an incredibly sharp mind and
wit that had Bill laughing and smiling for most of the plane ride
over. They had gotten on well—something he couldn’t say for the
leader of his bodyguard contingent.
    Luk Bol, a name so obviously not Somali that
Bill suspected him to be an agent for the Transition Government
more than a bodyguard, had made it clear, right from the start,
that he didn’t like Americans and by extension, Bill Gardner also
suspected that the man was a pirate, but he wisely kept his
suspicions to himself.
    Bill looked distastefully at the city dump.
There had been nothing done to try and keep it away from the city,
and he had begun to smell it even several miles away. Shacks and
hovels had grown up around the edge of the waste dump, and ragged,
half naked children romped in the streets and through piles of
refuse as American children did on a sanitized playground back
home.
    “Well, we might as well get this over with.” He
and Lorna walked towards the mounds of refuse. Smoke rose languidly
into the air here and there, a testimony to the residents who
haunted the place—although they had spotted no one. Bill suspected
the automatic weapons his body guards carried had something to do
with that. He stepped carefully, picking a path that looked less
filthy—if possible—than the others. Lorna followed, saying nothing.
Her capacity to do what needed to be done without complaint amazed
Bill. That alone should earn her an accommodation.
    Their guards, more used to environments such as
this, spread out on order of Luk Bol, flanking their wards and
watching the surrounding trash heaps warily. Bill noted that only
Bol wore combat boots. Two or three others had on worn tennis
shoes, but the rest of the soldiers walked with Chinese
sandals.
    The stench was awful. Bill had never smelled
anything so repugnant. It burned his nostrils, and his throat
quickly became raw from trying not to breathe through his nose. But
he managed, as did the