. Life After Lonesome George
From Our Own Correspondent
BBC
4.4 • 1.3K Ratings
🗓️ 4 August 2012
⏱️ 28 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Could Mogadishu be about to lose its title as the world's most dangerous city? Mary Harper says soon there'll be a new parliament and a new president in the Somali capital and there's hope the days of war, drought and famine could come to an end. The authorities in Yemen helped by the US have been taking the battle to al-Qaeda but Natalia Antelava says some believe hearts and minds are being lost in the process. Three years ago the north-eastern tip of Sri Lanka was the scene of the Tamil Tigers' last big battle against the Sri Lankan army. Charles Haviland's been allowed to visit the area. Henry Nicholls, who's been in the Galapagos Islands out in the Pacific Ocean, says people there are finding it hard to pick themselves up after the death of their most famous resident, the giant tortoise, Lonesome George. The annual Bayreuth Festival has been taking place in the south of Germany and Stephen Evans says that once again it's being stalked by controversy.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | You're listening to a download from the BBC, this is from our own correspondent. |
| 0:04.6 | You can hear the version of the program we make for the BBC World Service by visiting our site |
| 0:08.9 | at BBC online. |
| 0:10.8 | But here's the latest edition broadcast on BBC Radio 4 and introduced by Kate Adi. |
| 0:16.0 | Today a man with time on his hands in Africa's most ravaged city. |
| 0:21.0 | A new recruit for Al-Qaeda in Yemen. He's been promised vengeance and a new car. |
| 0:27.0 | There are lobster sausages, sublime music and of course a Nazi row at the Bayreuth Festival in Germany. |
| 0:34.0 | And in the Galapagos, islanders try to pick themselves up after the death of their most famous resident, |
| 0:40.0 | the giant tortoise known as Lonesome George. |
| 0:43.0 | Now it's not a title any city would cover it, |
| 0:47.0 | but for years Mogadishu, the capital of Somalia in the Horn of Africa, |
| 0:51.0 | has been called the most dangerous city on earth. For two decades it's been a |
| 0:55.5 | place of war, drought and famine. But could all this be about to change? If all goes to plan, |
| 1:01.9 | a new parliament and president will be in place there later this month |
| 1:05.3 | and already some stability has been restored now that the Al-Qaeda-linked group Al-Shabaab has been largely driven out. Today there is still frequent suicide, grenade, |
| 1:16.3 | and other attacks, but parts of the shattered city are being rebuilt, and Mary Harper, who's just |
| 1:22.1 | been there, tells us how amongst all the destruction and human |
| 1:25.9 | suffering she found a place of peace. |
| 1:29.1 | The atmosphere changed completely when we entered the cathedral. |
| 1:33.0 | Things fell quiet. |
| 1:34.7 | It felt almost peaceful. |
| 1:37.5 | The nervous frantic movement of people, animals and vehicles |
... |
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