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AS A GUN-TOTING Somali pirate, Barkhad Abdi was terrifying, earning an Oscar-nomination for his role in “Captain Phillips” with the chilling line to Tom Hanks: “I am the captain now.”
They liked it in Somalia too: when Abdi returned to his birth nation for the first time in more than two decades, he was mobbed by fans who “wanted their photograph with me”, he said.
But the image of Somalia as shown in such films of relentless war, famine and piracy is one the 29-year-old is determined to change.
“I didn’t see a war, I didn’t see a single gunshot the whole time I was there – and I didn’t see a pirate either,” Abdi told AFP in a green garden in the Kenyan capital, days after returning from Somalia earlier this month
“The Somalia I saw was a country that was in the process of being rebuilt. There is more there than war, drought, and hunger.”
Before “Captain Phillips”, Somalia was known to outsiders because of “Black Hawk Down”, the 2001 blockbuster telling the story of the 1993 battle in Mogadishu, when American soldiers fought through the capital after two of their helicopters were shot down.
’Lost generation’
Abdi, who won a BAFTA as best supporting actor for his role in the 2013 film “Captain Phillips”, dreams some day of a film that shows a different side of Somalia.
“I hope to tell a different story, because there are so many inspirational people, stories of struggle,” he said. “There is a lost generation, and now that I have a voice, I want to help them out.”
Abdi was born in the Somali capital Mogadishu six years before war followed the overthrow of dictator Siad Barre in 1991.
The country is still one of the most violent and dangerous on earth.
Large areas remain at war, with the Al-Qaeda affiliated Shebab insurgents staging regular attacks to topple the government.
But outside main war zones in the south, some progress is being made.
Barkhad visited Somalia’s northern Puntland region to see the work of the Somali aid agency Adeso, which trains unemployed youth by giving them practical skills.
“It is not as bad as people think,” Abdi said.
“We still need a lot of help, but we don’t just need food and money — we need structure, strong government and we need peace, we need our people to help themselves and be independent.”
Warlord and undercover agent
“Captain Phillips”, which starred Hanks as the captain Abdi kidnaps, recounts the true story of the Maersk Alabama, a vessel with a US crew that was hijacked in April 2009 off Somalia.
At their peak in 2011, Somali pirates held over 700 hostages but rates of attacks have tumbled, prompted partly by the posting of armed guards on boats and navy patrols.
Still, changing stereotypes and reputations will take time, Abdi admits, who recently played the role of a fugitive African warlord in the US crime drama “Hawaii Five-0″, modelled on Uganda’s Lord’s Resistance Army rebel chief Joseph Kony.
“Somalis have a stereotype – we’ve been refugees in countries all over the world for more than the last 20 years, it is just human nature, people don’t like what they are not used to seeing,” he said.
“For young Somalis… be the best at whatever you do, just work hard. As a human being if you respect people, they respect you.”
Despite the success of “Captain Phillips”, work took time to come for Abdi.
He now lives in Los Angeles, recently finishing shooting on a drone warfare thriller, “Eye in the Sky”, alongside Aaron Paul from the US TV crime drama “Breaking Bad” and Hollywood legend Helen Mirren, due for release later this year.
But Abdi says he was not being typecast or reinforcing negative stereotypes of young Somali men.
“Actually, I’m a hero, I was playing a Somali undercover agent,” he said. “And as long as the story is good, I’m fine with it.”
- © AFP 2015.
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This is one of the few countries where the US was involved, once, without anything in it for themselves in terms of Geopolitics, economics or security. In the 1990s the US marine corps in a massive humanitarian operation ended their famine. They repaid them by murdering the UN peacekeepers and dragging their comrades dead bodies through the streets.
Who is they? All of the Somalian people? Country was and still is in a state of civil war, with various opposing militias and warlords.
Calm down Jesus, He meant the people who actually dragged them through the streets. Not once did he tar all of Somalia with doing that. Stop looking for something that’s not their!
I am calm. And don’t call me Jesus.
Two tribes. One loved them the other hated them.
But when they were giving out food they never asked which group they were from. The US has done some good some bad like all big powers way more bad since 2001 (the REAL story behind that jingoistic sniper movie case in pont, Iraq, big brother) but theyre not all bad n i sometimes think they get no thanks for the good they did do. They saved this contenent from tyranny in the 40s and again in the 50s-1990 the latter without firing a shot through pure detterance. I know Africas more complex..the debt the unfair trade..but heres a case they did a selfless good,..and got burned for it.
To be honest, I wasn’t commenting on the UN/US humanitarian efforts, just adding the necessary context that those incidents you mentioned where carried out by specific group… who also largely prevented that humanitarian aid reaching the thousands it needed to. Using “they” was a poor choice when you don’t explain who they were.
It was a beautiful country. But unfortunately Islamic extremists destroyed ot.
It*
Itx
That’s nonsense. The civil war was ongoing for years before any major Islamist groups emerged
For the red thumbers :
Confirmation bias applies to most comments on here.
Ok, Where the feck is Frank? Anyone?
Was thinking the same myself! He said something big was going to happen on Feb 17. No sign of him since before then…?
Same day as year man broke out of prison? Well well well the plot thickens….
I was there in ’92 when the country was wracked by famine and civil war.
A dangerous place for sure, the Irish were the biggest expat community there as ngos tried to save people from dying of hunger.
A year later Irish Army peacekeepers ferried supplies as part of a UN force.
The Americans went in hard – they had no experience of peacekeeping.
They wanted to capture Mohamed Farah Aidid in Blackhawk Down, the leader of one of the clans fighting for control of the country.
I met him – an arrogant so and so.
Somalis were in the past known as the Irish of Africa.
A country with great potential – now bedevilled by Islamic extremism.
Khat
Charles it wud b gr8 if u cud visit somalia
Why?
have your say