Скачать или смотреть Government troops training, interview with military commander

(14 Dec 2006) SHOTLIST
1. Zoom in government soldiers running in fields hunting down enemy militiamen
2. Soldiers
3. Soldiers standing together holding guns
4. Soldier lying on ground firing down range
5. Military commanders studying maps under awning
6. Medium shot of seated Major General Ismail Naji, Joint Chief of Staff, studying map with military commanders
7. Cutaway of hands of military commanders studying map
8. SOUNDBITE: (Arabic) Major General Ismail Naji, Joint Chief of Staff:
"The moral of our Somali armed forces are very high, because we all believe that we are on the right path and we are defending our constitution and our sovereignty."
9. Somali soldiers with fixed bayonets in training
10. Soldier training to fire artillery gun
11. Wide of soldiers training to fire fixed bayonets
11. Pan into Major General Ismail Naji and other military commanders inspecting soldiers
12. New recruits standing in line
13. New recruits
STORYLINE:
As the Somali government faces off with the country's increasingly powerful Islamic movement, hundreds of fighters are hastily being trained to supplement army forces.
"Morale is very high and we are ready to fight," the government's military commander, Major General Ismail Naji, said on Thursday, while watching training at the Manas military camp near Dinsor, on one of the front lines.
The sound of automatic gunfire echoed in the camp, as recruits in crisp, sand-coloured uniforms performed target practice and drilled on vintage artillery guns.
Others waiting to undergo training stood in line wearing torn clothes and flip flops. All receive food in place of pay.
The Islamic movement controls much of southern Somalia and has now circled Baidoa, one of the few towns the government holds.
The UN-backed government says the group harbours foreign fighters allied to Osama bin Laden's al-Qaida network, and wants to establish an Islamic fundamentalist state.
Checkpoints have been set up in Baidoa after two suicide car bomb attacks. Heavily armed soldiers aboard pickup trucks mounted with anti-aircraft guns patrol the streets.
The scarred city, also known as the "City of Death," a title earned in 1992 when famine and war left thousands dying in the streets, it now serves as the government's capital. Parliament is held in a former grain silo and the city, with 70-thousand people, lacks clean water or regular electricity.
Small skirmishes have broken out, but so far no major combat has taken place.
The government insists it is holding out hope for peace, but on Tuesday the prime minister told The Associated Press that war was inevitable. He said government forces had prepared defensive positions.
His military officials believe around 4-thousand hardened Islamic fighters are dug in on northern, southern and eastern fronts, 65 kilometres (40 miles) from Baidoa.
War would hit an already devastated country. One in five children die before the age of 5 from easily preventable diseases. Most Somalis die before they reach their 50th birthday.
Keyword-military

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