Somalia's invisible war

A government soldier patrols the devastated frontline in Mogadishu Photograph: Ghaith Abdul-Ahad/Guardian Photograph: Ghaith Abdulahad/guardian.co.uk Newly trained recruits have uniforms and boots supplied by the foreign powers that trained them, from France to Sudan and Djibouti Photograph: Ghaith Abdul-Ahad/Guardian Photograph: Ghaith Abdulahad/guardian.co.uk "For the first time in many years the international community is interested in Somalia, not because of our suffering but because of al-Qaida." – A government minister Photograph: Ghaith Abdul-Ahad/Guardian Photograph: Ghaith Abdulahad/guardian.co.uk Government soldiers are manning the front lines in Mogadishu Photograph: Ghaith Abdul-Ahad/Guardian Photograph: Ghaith Abdulahad/guardian.co.uk In areas the insurgents control, an imposed regime of extreme sharia law makes the Taliban seem moderate Photograph: Ghaith Abdul-Ahad/Guardian Photograph: Ghaith Abdulahad/guardian.co.uk "We take films of the shelling and the bombing by the government and the African Union, and we show them to the young in the diaspora and they come here enraged and passionate." – Abdey Qadir, intelligence officer with al-Shabab Photograph: Ghaith Abdulahad/Guardian Photograph: Ghaith Abdulahad/guardian.co.uk Senior officers sell their newly supplied guns and ammunition, according to a major arms dealer Photograph: Ghaith Abdul-Ahad/Guardian Photograph: Ghaith Abdulahad/guardian.co.uk Officers in the army say they haven't been paid for months and soldiers say they have no food to eat Photograph: Ghaith Abdul-Ahad/Guardian Photograph: Ghaith Abdulahad/guardian.co.uk Foreign fighters are joining the insurgents, bringing their experience as snipers and of directing mortar and artillery fire to the conflict Photograph: Ghaith Abdul-Ahad/Guardian Photograph: Ghaith Abdulahad/guardian.co.uk "According to our beliefs Somalia was never an Islamic country - it has to be liberated from apostasy." - Qadir Photograph: Ghaith Abdul-Ahad/Guardian Photograph: Ghaith Abdulahad/guardian.co.uk Doctors treat a Somali after he was injured in the shelling of African Union forces at Bakaro market in Mogadishu Photograph: Ghaith Abdul-Ahad/Guardian Photograph: Ghaith Abdulahad/guardian.co.uk Civilians living at the front lines in Mogadishu. Somalia's descent into anarchy began in 1991, with the overthrow of the dictator Mohamed Siad Barre Photograph: Ghaith Abdul-Ahad/Guardian Photograph: Ghaith Abdulahad/guardian.co.uk Parents worry about their children, with large numbers of them among the recruits to the rebel groups Photograph: Ghaith Abdulahad/Guardian Photograph: Ghaith Abdulahad/guardian.co.uk