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This is a piece I wrote about the Catholic cathedral in the Somali capital, Mogadishu, for the BBC's From Our Own Correspondent programme which goes out on Radio Four and the World Service. It is also available here  on the BBC website. I have added more pictures here so you can see what it is like.  The atmosphere changed completely when we entered the cathedral. Things fell quiet. It  felt almost peaceful. The nervous, frantic movement of people, animals and vehicles on the streets outside did  not follow us. The hysterical beeping of horns fell away, as did the sound of gunfire. My five Somali bodyguards - wrapped in long, heavy necklaces of brass bullets - did not spring into position around me. They bent their heads towards the smashed floor of the cathedral and walked alongside me. It was Ramadan in Mogadishu - the holy Muslim month - and we were inside the remains of what had once been one of the grandest Catholic cathedrals in the whole of Africa, built by It...

During a recent trip to Mogadishu, I was lucky enough to visit Bakara market, the main commercial area of the city. 'Market' is a misleading term for Bakara; it is more a 'commercial district' covering a large area, comprising many streets, alleys, open areas and buildings. It was until last year a stronghold of the Islamist group, Al Shabaab, and one of its main sources of revenue.  We started off at one of Bakara's most glamorous buildings, the headquarters of the Hormuud telecommunications giant. At this stage, I felt as if I was in any East/ Horn of African city such as Nairobi or Addis Ababa. People streamed in and out of the building, simply going about their business, as traffic jams built up outside. Hormuud building Me outside Hormuud We then went past African Express Airways, the airline I took to fly into Mogadishu (it is very difficult to get a seat because so many people are flooding back to the city, either on holiday or to stay permanently). We set of...