Hello, thanks for downloading this podcast from witness history on the BBC World Service.

I'm Rob Walker.

In today's program, the story of a Somali Air Force pilot who faced a terrible choice,

either bomb civilians in his own country or refuse and face the prospect of being shot.

The fighting is between the government and the main rebel grouping, the Somali National Movement.

Since 1981, they've been opposing the military dictatorship of President Mohamed Siyad Baray.

In May 1988, rebels from the Somali National Movement launched a series of lightning attacks

on the main towns in the north of Somalia.

Tonight, there's confusion over just how far the SNM rebels have advanced.

Certainly, the radio station went off the air.

By this point, the president, Siyad Baray, had become deeply unpopular.

And to hold onto power, he'd increasingly relied on support from his own clan.

But at the same time, he'd also systematically discriminated against the main clan in the north, the Asak.

And that had led to the rebellion by the SNM.

These pictures shot on the rebel side,

chermembers of the SNM moving freely in several areas of Hageza,

the biggest town in what was once the British-ruled part of Somalia.

By the beginning of June 1988, the rebels had taken control of most of Hageza.

The government forces fell back to the airport.

And as they did so, they were ordered to begin the indiscriminate destruction of the city.

That meant planes taking off from Hageza Airport

and then turning straight back around to bomb the city itself.

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