mogadishu (somalia)

A small unit of soldiers becomes separated from their command and must find a way to survive in a hostile city filled with marauding gangs and tribesmen as the line between friend and enemy becomes blurred and the soldiers try to keep a hold on their own sanity.

Andrew Harding, a BBC foreign correspondent, reveals the tumultuous life of Mohamoud 'Tarzan' Nur--an impoverished nomad who was abandoned in a state orphanage in newly independent Somalia, and became a street brawler and activist. When the country collapsed into civil war and anarchy, Tarzan and his young family became part of an exodus, eventually spending twenty years in north London. In 2010 Tarzan returned, as mayor of Mogadishu, to the unrecognizable ruins of a city now almost entirely controlled by the Islamist militants of Al Shabab. Tarzan became a galvanizing symbol of courage and hope for Somalia. But for others, he was a divisive thug, who sank beneath the corruption and clan rivalries that continue today to threaten the country's revival.

Relates the story, in graphic novel format, of Somali athlete Samia Yusuf Omar, who overcame great odds to represent her country in the 2008 Olympics and died in the process of trying to do the same in 2012.