The Current for March 13, 2007
Host: Anna Maria Tremonti
There are stirrings of hope once again in Somalia. The first troops of a projected force of 8,000 African Union peacekeepers have arrived in Somalia. They will support the Interim government's return to the country's capital Mogadishu, following the ouster of the Union of Islamic Courts government … a regime accused of being the African equivalent to Afghanistan's Taliban.
But even as the country wonders whether the first legitimate, central government in 16 years will finally pull Somalia out of a dark age of poverty, anarchy and chaos... violence has again returned to Mogadishu. Insurgents are staging gun battles with peacekeepers, threatening to add to Somalia's toll of dead … according to a human rights group, last year 1,700 Somali civilians were killed. Caught in the crossfire of a seemingly endless cycle of violence.
Yet somehow, Nuruddin Farah has found poetry and inspiration in Somalia, even as he satirizes its foibles and deplores the violent men who have so debased and cheapened life in his home country. Mr. Farah is one of Africa's most revered authors, having written such trilogies as Blood in the Sun and Variations on the Theme of African Dictatorship. His new novel is called Knots. Its central character is a Somali-Canadian woman named Cambara who makes a jarring return to Mogadishu. Nuruddin Farah now lives in CapeTown, South Africa, but he joined us in our Toronto studio.
Listen to The Current: 
Nuruddin Farah interviewed by Anna Maria Tremonti
Last Word – Refugee Song
In Nuruddin Farah's novel, the protagonist's journey finally comes full circle with her eventual return to Mogadishu.But such returns are often the stuff of dreams for Somali refugees.
One such refugee is the singer Maryam Mursal. A vocal critic of the Somali government, she fled her homeland at the height of the civil war. She and her five children trekked across the East African desert for seven months, on foot, by donkey and by truck.
Listen to Maryan Mursal's Voice - "Qax" (Refugee)
On the way, she wrote a song called "Refugee" which she recorded after seeking exile in Denmark. And we ended the program with that song. A song which Maryam Mursal says will not truly be finished until she returns to the country of her birth.
Music
Artist: Maryam Mursal
Cd: "The Journey"
Cut: CD 6, "Qax" (Refugee)
Label: Real World
Spine: 7243 8 45236 2 6