The convoy drove slowly through the streets and alleys of Bossaso, and because of the approval of the Minister of Armed Forces of Bossaso, Li Lan and his party did not move as restrained as before.

Looking at the scene on the side of the road through the car window, Li Lan's first feeling was depression and chaos.

On some smaller roads, it is difficult to see pedestrians, and the occasional pedestrian who misses with the convoy is also clenching his weapons. The streets are littered with piles of debris, and from time to time you can see a large clearing of the wreckage of collapsed buildings.

"Turmoil, war, hunger, the once prosperous Bossaso is no longer what it used to be, a large influx of refugees, more and more chaos in the cities, gangs are rampant, the markets are chaotic, there are not many places under the complete control of the government, other places only maintain an existence, in essence controlled by other armed forces. These collapsed houses were all attacked by bombs or shells, and no one would build new houses in such places, and the land began to be deserted. Mohammadi has seen the scene here countless times, and in order to give Li Lan a more intuitive understanding of Somalia, he slowly explained along the way.

Several gunshots rang out in the distance, and the crisp sound of gunfire reached everyone's ears through the roar of the car. Soldiers began to be on alert, and the heavy machine guns on the roof of the armed off-road vehicles were also turned on the safe.

"Don't be too nervous, this kind of sound is heard a lot in Somalia, and the gunfire is still far away from here, not aimed at us." Seeing the convoy that had begun to be on high alert, Mohammadi, who had become accustomed to the sound of gunfire, hurriedly explained.

Li Lan also nodded and said, "Tell the soldiers not to be too nervous, just stay vigilant." ”

"Yes." After Ahmed, who was in the co-pilot's seat, conveyed Li Lan's order through the wireless intercom, he asked, "Sir, are we going to spend the night here?" ”

"Yes, I'll go back tomorrow." Li Lan nodded, come to Bossaso, he didn't want to leave immediately.

"I've booked a room at the Bossaso International Hotel, which is the safest place in the whole of Bossaso, because Bossaso Marina is one of the two largest ports in Somalia, and there is a lot of cargo coming in and out every day. As a result, it is often visited by foreigners, who usually stay at the Bossaso International Hotel. It is arguably the safest place in Bossaso, and there will be no place to get there. Mohammadi said.

"International Hotel, do you need a passport?" Li Lan smiled slightly.

"Hehe, it's okay to have money in Somalia, and basically nothing else is required." Mohammadi also smiled.

The convoy headed in the direction of the coastline, and while chatting, a building in the distance surrounded by a towering wall caught Li Lan's attention.

"What kind of building is that?" Li Lan said.

"It's Bossaso Prison, where law-breaking civilians and captured pirates are kept." Mohammadi explained.

"Oh, are all pirates locked up here?" Li Lan said.

"No, it's just one of the prisons, and some pirates are housed, about one or two hundred." Muhammadi said.

"What about the other pirates?" Li Lan said.

"Some will be brought to an international tribunal, some will be held in other prisons, and some will not know where they are at all." Muhammadi shook his head.

"Were the pirates imprisoned here captured by government forces?" Li Lan said.

"Not necessarily, my friend, as you know, the Somali government simply has no capacity to defend its own seas, and the pirates caught by the government army are basically caught after the pirates have come ashore. Among them, there are not many pirates caught by the government army, and they are more caught by foreign escort formations, and they are held here through the Somali Coast Guard. After speaking, Muhammadi sighed and continued: "Actually, they are pirates, but several of them are real pirates. ”

“weishenme？” Regarding pirates, Li Lan seems to have countless curiosities.

"My friend, not every Somali who goes to sea is a pirate, you know that a lot of us Somalis are herders, but there are also quite a few fishermen in Somalis. In the past, they lived by fishing tuna and other fish. Now, how many fishermen can be identified in Somalia? Our fishermen are not afraid to go out to sea at all, you can go to the beach and see how many fishing boats are left there to rust. Fishing vessels from other countries come to our territorial waters to fish, not to mention any EEZs. The fact that the territorial waters allow people to enter and leave our fishing grounds at will, not to mention the exclusive economic zone and continental shelf, is a great irony for Somalia. Muhammadi was clearly a little agitated.

"I'm sorry, my friend, for upsetting you." Li Lan sighed helplessly.

"It doesn't matter, these are facts, helpless and sad facts, whether you mention this issue or not, these are facts that cannot be changed that have happened for more than ten years." Muhammadi shook his head and continued: "I used to have a very good friend, he and I were classmates, and we studied everything at the East African University for five years. My friend, do you know where he is now? ”

Li Lan shook his head.

"He's been locked up here since last year, and I used to come here to see him almost every Friday. But now, I haven't been here in a long time. Muhammadi said.

“weishenme？”

His ancestors were fishermen and he always made a living from fishing. Last year, he was also on a fishing boat, and I remember that it was the official best season for tuna, and they were fishing when they met the Indian Navy warships escorting ships in the Gulf of Aden. At that time, the Indian warship shelled the fishing boat without warning, and the shell hit the fishing boat, killing my friend's father and brother as if they were shelled. Enraged, my friend took up arms and fired at the warship, only to be arrested as pirates and imprisoned in Bossaso prison.

Do you know? This is not the first time that a foreign warship has shelled our fishing boat in our territorial waters, and it was so far away that my friend's shooting at the warship was nothing more than a vent of anger, and the warship was completely out of range. However, the Indian Navy didn't even have the idea of killing people, but only notified our coast guard and caught the pirates. When I learned the news, I asked for an investigation in many ways, but the coast guard ignored me. They were afraid of the international liliang and circled around the group like dogs all day long. ”

"And what about your current friends?" Li Lan didn't know what to say for a while, the sorrow of a weak country was similar to that of China after the First Afternoon.

"I don't know." Muhammadi shook his head.

"Dead?" Li Lan said.

"I don't know, I said that I was sent to another prison, but I have no way of knowing what the truth is, and since then, I haven't seen my friends again."

Seeing that Muhammadi was not in a very good mood, Li Lan did not speak again.

The convoy slowly circled along the coast, and here, Li Lan saw a scene that made him very emotional.

The convoy passed through a small seaside village, where most of the houses were made of stone, very simple and only protected from the wind, but in a clearing in the village, he saw the children's football goal made of stone, the children kicked the ball with irregularly shaped styrofoam, and looked at the skinny child, wearing a shabby shorts, running barefoot on the ground covered with stones, cheering and kicking the ball.

Somalia has been in civil war for many years, and an important reason for the turmoil in the situation is that the tribes have developed their own armed forces based on their patrilineal bloodlines, and the scale has continued to grow, and despite the psychological preparations, the AK-47 rifles that can be seen everywhere and the barbed wire fence that is inseparable from the buildings all tell Li Lan how chaotic it is.

However, in Somalia there are not only rifles full of gunpowder, but also the tenacity, friendliness and yearning for a better life shown by Somali civilians in the war, all of which make Li Lan feel full of emotion at all times.

When the convoy moved into the city of Bossaso, Li Lan saw many things that he remembered deeply.

The street storefronts are scattered, and there is no text on the signs, but a large number of pictures, and what is sold in them will be painted, and the most striking thing is that each sign has a dollar pattern painted on it, reminding customers that the store only charges US dollars.

Of the Mogadishu factions in the country, such as Somaliland, Puntland, Rahan Wenland and Aideed, only Somaliland has a relatively sound administrative structure that can carry out normal economic operations.

Inflation in Somalia is high. Cyclical droughts not only drive up food prices and lead to massive livestock losses, but also lead to livelihood crises, rising debt and economic stagnation. There is no unified monetary policy in the country, and the interest rate level of the Somali local currency has its own set of its own, and there are obvious differences.

Foreign services and international smuggling are generally settled in United States dollars. For more than a decade, Somalia's borrowing on the international market has been largely frozen and stagnant. Seventy per cent of external debt creditors are official creditors. To date, there has been no indication that the Somali Government has made substantial progress in securing financing and debt relief.

After 1971, external funding was mainly obtained through aid. Beginning in the mid-90s, the financial system began to recover with the establishment of new financial institutions, such as the Central Bank of Somaliland, the Somali Barakat Bank, the Somali Maasia Commercial Bank, the Central Bank of Puntland and the Dahashir Group Money Circulation Company.

Among them, Dahashir Group is the most powerful. Somalia lacks a systematic commercial bank, and there are few traditional commercial banks in the country. There is no unified tax system in the country, and taxes are collected by the localities themselves, with a great deal of arbitrariness, especially in the northern region of Somalia and the capital region, where the tax policy is subject to change at any time.

Here, one dollar can be exchanged for almost 30,000 Somali shillings.

Li Lan even saw the scene of carrying a basket of money to buy things.