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Whatever happens in Mogadishu, in Somalia, will happen in Great Britain. We have interlocking interests.

I think the biggest challenge for Somalia has been the sense that it is a hopeless case of incomprehensible internal conflicts and there is nothing we can do.

Somalia is an important story in the world, and it needed to be told.

I don't have much in me left for Somalia, because the country is so broken, it's not realistic to daydream about it.

An oversupply of national sentiment is not the problem in Somalia. The problem is a lack of it. The problem is an oversupply of sub-sub-clannish attitude.

I have big hope for the Canadian government to help Somalia with something concrete and tangible. I haven't seen that.

We need better coordination on the international side, just as they need better and more effective efforts on the Somali side. We have too many reconstruction and development assistance plans.

It is only the Somalis themselves - and I don't hide that fact when I meet the political leaders here - they themselves have to stop their old practices of fighting each other every time they have a problem. They have to learn how to do peaceful conflict resolution.

Going into Somalia, I didn't anticipate how many people's lives would be affected by it. In hindsight, I certainly wish I had taken more time to think about that, but I can't change it.

Along the borders to Ethiopia and Somalia, anarchy reigns, the police and military have retreated quite some distance.