THIS WORLD One Day of War Tx Date: 27th May 2004 This script was made from audio tape – any inaccuracies are due to voices being unclear or inaudible 10.00.00 This World Theme Music 10.00.07 Music 10.00.10 Rageh Omaar Across the world today, millions of people are caught up in conflicts. Every minute two people die as a result of war. Some of these battles are over disputed homelands; some are about deepest convictions, or power, or sheer survival. 00.00.25 Music 10.00.29 Rageh Omaar This is the story of sixteen very different people with one thing in common; they wake up every day in a war zone. Every day they must face their enemy. 10.00.39 Music 10.00.44 Rageh Omaar March the twenty-second this year was just another day. 10.00.47 Music 10.00.49 Rageh Omaar This is the story of that one day. 10.00.51 Music 10.00.57 Gunfire 10.01.04 Title Page ONE DAY of WAR 10.01.10 Music 10.01.14 Graphic Comrade GRACE New People’s Army PHILIPPINES 10.01.26 Rageh Omaar Just before daybreak is the most dangerous time in the Philippine jungle for Grace. She is eighteen and a member of the world’s longest running active group of communist rebels. 10.01.36 Music 10.01.43 Grace Voice over The practice of the New People’s Army is to be up at four in the morning. Because the enemy usually attacks at this time. 10.01.55 Music 10.01.59 Rageh Omaar For thirty years the rebels have fought for a Communist state. They used to target American bases, now it’s the government. Grace wanted to be a teacher but her family couldn’t afford the fees. On New Year’s Day she joined the rebels. 10.02.15 Grace Voice over When I first got here I had a hard time adjusting. I couldn’t sleep because it was so cold, it was raining so much. After a while I overcame these challenges. It’s a great personal victory that I’ve lasted this long – two months. 10.02.44 Music 10.02.53 Graphic CHONG CHA LEE Hmong EASTERN LAOS 10.03.06 Chong Cha Lee Voice over We’re trapped in the jungle. Every day we fear that we’ll be attacked. We carry our guns as our best friends. 10.03.17 Music 10.03.20 Rageh Omaar Chong Cha and his family wake up in the remotest part of the jungle in Laos. 10.03.24 Music 10.03.30 Rageh Omaar This hut took just two hours to build. His whole group of Hmong people are able to up and run at a moment’s notice, carrying their children and their weapons together. In the last year the whole village has moved fifteen times. 10.03.43 Music 10.03.45 Rageh Omaar Laos government troops hunt the Hmong, who are a different and distinct ethnic group. Laos has been Communist for twenty-eight years since overthrowing the monarchy. The Hmong reject Communism and Chong Cha’s people supported the Americans during the Vietnam War; and they’ve been paying ever since. 10.04.03 Music 10.04.08 Rageh Omaar There are twelve Hmong groups like theirs hiding in the jungle. 10.04.11 Music 10.04.25 Rageh Omaar Chong Cha’s brother is the village chief and is organising today’s patrols. 10.04.31 Chong Cha’s brother Subtitles Today we will split into three patrols. The first group covers behind me. As we are going on patrol, the remaining men, women… and children should stay put until we return safely. Anyone who then needs to go and find food can go. 10.04.57 Chong Cha Subtitle Walk softly and gently. 10.05.02 Rageh Omaar On their patrol, Chong Cha is teaching thirteen year old Sor how to detect government ambushes and landmines. Hmong fighters are vastly outnumbered. The government has more than a hundred thousand regular forces and paramilitaries. 10.05.19 Chong Cha Voice over We have been fighting and protecting our women and children since nineteen seventy-five. I was about his age then; now I’m forty-two and still doing the same thing. But I don’t know for how much longer. These kids here are supposed to be in school. They should have a future, and if we lived in the free world, at their age, they would be in school. 10.05.49 Rageh Omaar The Hmong say three thousand of them have been either killed or captured in the last two years. 10.05.58 Chong Cha Voice over Here in the jungle, this is one of our sources of meat; crab. Sometimes, if we are lucky, and we find more we can feed the family but otherwise it is not enough. 10.06.12 Music 10.06.14 Graphic Lt. HUGO CASALES UN Forces DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO 10.06.35 Lt. Hugo Casales Voice over We’re positioning the team to surround that block of houses. My team is ready to go and is occupying the street. 10.06.41 Music 10.06.45 Rageh Omaar Before dawn in the Democratic Republic of Congo; the heart of Africa. But Hugo is from Uruguay, eight thousand kilometres away. He’s with the UN and it’s his first posting. 10.06.59 Lt. Hugo Casales Voice over If they tell me to go to the Congo, I go to the Congo, or wherever it is. I live for that. It’s difficult but not too bad. I love it. 10.07.15 Rageh Omaar This morning their target is a local militia leader. 10.07.25 Lt. Hugo Casales Subtitles If he comes out, shout “Halt!” If the guy is unarmed – UNARMED - and he doesn’t stop, shoot at his feet. If he’s armed, shoot at his body. Is that all clear? Good. 10.07.47 Music 10.07.50 Rageh Omaar The Congo war has the highest civilian death toll of any conflict in the last half century. Inter-tribal violence was spurred on by the involvement of five neighbouring countries. 10.07.59 Music 10.08.06 Lt. Hugo Casales Subtitle Check the entrance and the exits. 10.08.09 Rageh Omaar The fighting here and the hunger and disease which followed have killed more than four million people in seven years. 10.08.18 Rageh Omaar Hugo is part of a new breed of UN troops whose mandate is not just to keep the peace; they are authorised to enforce it. 10.08.27 Lt. Hugo Casales Subtitles We’re coming in. There’s still a person in every room. No-one break anything! 10.08.38 Music 10.08.53 Lt. Hugo Casales Voice over We looked above the tiles, in the privies and he didn’t turn up. He wasn’t there or maybe he’d already gone. 10.08.59 Music 10.09.06 Graphic MUKTAR Harbargidir Militia MOGADISHU, SOMALIA 10.09.15 Rageh Omaar Muktar was found in the ruins of his bombed out house at the age of four. He was lying beside his dead parents. 10.09.22 Rageh Omaar He was taken in and raised by one of the Somali capital’s numerous militia gangs. Today, ten years later, Muktar is a gun for hire on the anarchic streets of Mogadishu. 10.09.39 Muktar Voice over I’m always ready, whenever there’s a gun fight I join in. I am used to this. A man who has a gun is not afraid. 10.09.56 Music 10.10.07 Muktar Voice over When we’re in battle we’re not afraid. We fight, we take guns from some, some are killed, some are burned, some are killed with stones. 10.10.18 Rageh Omaar The war in Somalia officially ended in nineteen ninety-three when the two main clans were separated by the United Nations, along a Green Line. But the UN left and the militias multiplied. 10.10.31 Rageh Omaar Now Muktar drives to the old ceasefire zone to look for work with one of five factions who are fighting for control there. His first job is to collect money for a militia boss from the men on road block duty. 10.10.43 Muktar Subtitle How much did you get from the drivers? Man on road block Subtitle Not that much. 10.10.47 Muktar Subtitle But how much? Man on road block Subtitle I don’t know! It’s in my pocket here. 10.10.56 Muktar Subtitle OK, pass it over then 10.10.59 Man on road block Subtitle What else do you want? Muktar Subtitle I need more money. 10.11.03 Man on road block Subtitle I haven’t got anything else. Muktar Subtitle I’ll be hunting victims with you, then. 10.11.09 Rageh Omaar Muktar gets to keep a cut of the money, which he then distributes among his friends. 10.11.14 Muktar Subtitles Greetings! How are you? Hello, my brother. 10.11.37 Muktar Voice over They’re broke today; they haven’t stopped anyone so I’m paying for their tea. 10.11.46 Rageh Omaar The rules are very simple in Mogadishu; if you drive through an area controlled by one of the militias, you have to pay or they will shoot you. 10.11.57 Muktar Subtitle Give me the money! 10.12.06 Muktar Subtitle He gave me ten. 10.12.13 Militia man Subtitles Hey, stop this taxi and say, “Give me the money.” 10.12.30 Muktar Subtitle Why won’t you pay me? Taxi driver Subtitle We paid you earlier. 10.12.41 Muktar Subtitle Give me the money! 10.12.52 Muktar Subtitle They paid me two. 10.12.59 Militia man Subtitles Your trousers are falling down. Pass me your gun and sort them out! 10.13.09 Graphic MOUSSA IBRAHIM OSMAN Sudan Liberation Army DARFUR, WESTERN SUDAN 10.13.26 Moussa Voice over I have a very big family. I have about twenty-three brothers and sisters and some of them became martyrs in this war. 10.13.43 Rageh Omaar Nine of Moussa’s brothers have been killed in a civil war where Muslims are fighting Muslims. 10.13.52 Moussa Voice over As for the rest of my family I don’t even know where they are now. Are they living or dead? That I cannot know. 10.14.01 Rageh Omaar Moussa hasn’t even seen his wife in two years. He’s no idea where she might be. 10.14.08 Rageh Omaar Moussa used to be a farmer, selling his crops at market. But black African Muslims like him are being ethnically cleansed by the Arab Muslim government and militia forces who are burning villages and stealing livestock. For the last three years Moussa’s been fighting back. 10.14.31 Moussa Voice over I’m not scared of being killed. But we hide carefully and strike them before they strike us. It’s self defence. 10.14.46 Rageh Omaar Moussa’s Sudanese Liberation Army faces two threats, bombing from the air and horseback militia attacks on the ground. 10.14.53 Music 10.15.17 Graphic SHUSHILA MAGAR Maoist Rebels NEPAL 10.15.16 Music 10.15.41 Rageh Omaar Twenty-four year old Shushila has been training with the Nepalese Maoist rebels for the last four years. Today, finally, she will go out on her first active mission. The rebels are armed with old Flint-lock rifles, standard issue in Napoleonic times. 10.16.01 Shushila Voice over So what if they have modern weapons. We revolutionaries fight for the happiness of the people. Ideology is our weapon. 10.16.11 Music 10.16.15 Rageh Omaar Nepal is a feudal state with power resting with the monarchy. Almost half the population lives on less than a dollar a day and only a third of people here can read or write. 10.16.25 Music 10.16.35 Shushila Voice over That’s my village; my whole family lives down there. If I visit for too long there’s a danger I could be informed on and killed because my house is near to the district headquarters. Out of all my family, it is my grandmother I miss the most. When I was young she looked after me and she inspired me to go to school. Right now I can see my grandmother’s face in front of my eyes. 10.17.20 Rageh Omaar When Shushila was still at school, before she’d ever considered becoming a rebel, she was arrested by the Nepalese police on suspicion of being a Maoist. 10.17.31 Shushila Voice over They threatened to kill me and tortured me both physically and mentally. They hit me with a stick on different parts of my body. They pointed a gun at me as if they were going to shoot me. I was tortured in that way. 10.17.45 Music 10.17.53 Shushila Voice over I was sure they were going to kill me one day. So, to take revenge and to fight for the people, I got involved in this war. 10.18.00 Music 10.18.07 Graphic Sgt. “IVAN YAKOVLEV” Russian Army GROZNY, CHECHNYA 10.18.19 Rageh Omaar Ivan re-enlisted in the Russia army after his house flooded and he couldn’t afford the repair bill. 10.18.27 Rageh Omaar The war between Russia and Chechens who want a separate state officially ended two years ago but there is still constant fighting. 10.18.43 Ivan Voice over When the fighting was most intense here, we got new uniforms every three months and boots every six to twelve months. But now when you go to headquarters they say they know nothing about this order. They say you were misled, we know nothing about this, it’s once every three years. So this jumper, everything, I bought myself. 10.19.23 Rageh Omaar Dogs are used to sniff out landmines; the rebels’ favourite weapon. 10.19.31 Rageh Omaar The conscripts in this platoon earn three dollars a month. Volunteers, like Ivan, get five hundred. 10.19.41 Ivan Voice over The majority of people come here for one reason only; money. Because in the places where they live, their villages, they haven’t seen real money since nineteen ninety-one. They worked for meat or flour. Here they can see the real money that their families need. 10.20.08 Ivan Voice over I was born here in Grozny, grew up in Grozny. I lived here until nineteen ninety-four. In ninety-five, when I’d moved to the Russia town of Samara, somebody brought a tape with views of the city after the war. Everyone was crying because it had been so beautiful before. 10.20.31 Whistle 10.20.33 Rageh Omaar Chechen rebels lay booby traps at the side of the road and detonate them by remote control when a Russian convoy passes. 10.20.43 Ivan Voice over The thing about this guerrilla or mine war is that you don’t know who your enemy is. Practically speaking; who can we fight? To fight somebody one should at least see the enemy’s face. Our enemy doesn’t have a face; this is very unpleasant. 10.21.04 Graphic NATI MAZUZ Israeli Defence Force GAZA STRIP 10.21.04 Music 10.21.11 Rageh Omaar Early morning and Gaza is in uproar. The Israeli Defence Force has carried out a targeted assassination of the leader of HAMAS, the Palestinian Group which carries out suicide bombings. Sheik Yassin was killed by a helicopter gunship strike as he left a mosque after morning prayers. 10.21.28 Music 10.21.30 Nati Voice over They hit a very important figure in Palestinian society or rather in the society of terror organisations. 10.21.36 Music 10.21.39 Rageh Omaar Nati knows his men will be the first target for Palestinian revenge attacks. 10.21.42 Music 10.21.45 Rageh Omaar He’s an officer in the Israeli military base on the border with Egypt. They protect Israeli settlements near the Palestinian town of Rafah, where reaction to Yassin’s killing has already begun. 10.21.58 Radio report Subtitle It hit 20 metres away from him… 10.22.01 Nati Subtitles That’s where we were. An anti-tank missile was fired. 10.22.11 Rageh Omaar Nati’s commander arrives on the base to check his men are fully prepared. 10.22.18 Commander Voice over An important event occurred today. You can expect a reaction from their side and ours. There’s a lot of action and movement. 10.22.34 Voice on loudhailer Subtitle Put on your bullet-proof vest! 10.22.42 Gunfire 10.22.53 Nati Voice over They don’t usually fire at us with mortars. 10.23.03 Gunfire 10.23.43 Commander Subtitles I want you to shoot only towards clear areas. I want you to fire a few bursts, but only if you have a clear line of sight. 10.23.49 Gunfire 10.23.51 Rageh Omaar Nati has to distinguish the smoke of burning tyres from that of mortar trails. 10.24.02 Nati Voice over The reason for the smoke may be that when they shoot mortar shells smoke rises from the source. The smoke may be an attempt to confuse us, to make us unable to locate the mortar. 10.24.19 Nati Voice over The mortars are usually aimed at the settlement, at the civilians. This is typical of limited warfare; this psychological tactic is designed to make the enemy afraid, to make him piss his pants. 10.24.29 Gunfire 10.24.32 Music 10.24.34 Graphic Corp. ALBERT MINASYAN Armenian Conscript NAGORNO KARABAKH 10.24.44 Albert Voice over This time of day favours the snipers; the sun is rising from their side so it’s very dangerous. 10.24.50 Music 10.24.52 Rageh Omaar This is trench warfare that has lasted three times as long as World War One. Nagorno Karabakh is in Azerbaijan, but neighbouring Armenia is backing the enclave people’s fights for independence. It’s a stalemate. 10.25.06 Albert Voice over From my post, the place where I’m on duty, they are five hundred metres away. 10.25.11 Music 10.25.13 Rageh Omaar Albert is Armenian and a conscript; one of twenty thousand fighting here. This morning he is working one section of the hundred mile long trench network that separates the two sides. 10.25.27 Albert Voice over It’s very dangerous here. Ahead of our positions, to the left is forest and to the right vineyards. So there could be a sniper there who’s very well camouflaged. If you don’t spot him he’ll do his job. 10.25.50 Albert Voice over I’ve served fifteen months already. The term is two years, so I have nine months to go if I’m not mistaken. 10.25.59 Music 10.26.11 Rolling aston To find out more on the conflicts featured in this programme, digital viewers press RED, or visit bbc.co.uk/this world 10.26.23 Graphic ZAZA GELADZE Georgian Navy BLACK SEA 10.26.41 Zaza Voice over We were so drunk last night. Did you see that ugly waitress who was asking me to stay with her? I told her to leave me alone and get away from me. 10.27.02 Rageh Omaar Zaza’s on his first active mission in charge of the largest ship in the Georgian Navy. His job is to sail out in the Black Sea and make sure no ships can reach the ports of the renegade region called Abkhazia, which wants to be a separate state. Zaza must enforce Georgia’s blockade. 10.27.23 Zaza Subtitles Come in, Bosun Amiran. We’re going to sea for two days. We need to get ready, starting right now. 10.27.31 Music 10.27.47 Zaza Subtitles Get the maps, pencils, and the logbook. Write the time – received emergency instruction 11.30… and we’re getting ready to sail. 10.28.08 Rageh Omaar Zaza is taking this ageing former coastguard vessel into hostile waters. 10.28.17 Zaza Subtitles Hello Aunty Nana, I’m well. How are you? 10.28.31 Zaza Voice over She’s like my second mother. She always asks me to phone her before any manoeuvres, so she can go to the church and light candles and pray for me so that I come back unharmed. 10.28.44 Music 10.28.46 Graphic Capt. JIMMY KATUMBA Ugandan Army GULU, UGANDA 10.28.54 Rageh Omaar Today, like every day, these children face the threat of kidnap. A religious cult come rebel group, the Lord’s Resistance Army, has snatched twenty thousand North Ugandan children. Girls are raped and forcibly married. Boys are made to join in killings and torture, often against their own families. 10.29.12 Music 10.29.14 Rageh Omaar Their only protection is the Ugandan Army. 10.29.16 Music 10.29.21 Jimmy Voice over What made me join up is a desire to stop what is happening. They terrorise civilians and they abduct children and take them into the bush. They kill civilians, they steal their food. That’s the problem we are facing. 10.29.41 Rageh Omaar Last night, like every night, twenty-four thousand children left their villages to pour into the local town of Gulu. Almost half sleep rough but that is still safer than sleeping in their villages. The rebels attack at night. 10.29.54 Music 10.30.00 Rageh Omaar And every morning, Jimmy has to look after them as they begin the three hour walk back home. 10.30.14 Graphic Capt. “SAW LA” Karen National Liberation Army SOUTHERN BURMA 10.30.15 Radio signal 10.30.28 Rageh Omaar Captain Saw La and his men are being hunted by the Burmese Army. For fifty-five years his Karen people have been fighting for a separate homeland; they were promised it by the British on independence. But today they face a regime which spends more than half the national budget on its armed forces. 10.30.51 Saw La They are here; the patrol. They will come up here in this way and this way. They will meet us here. We’ll go down there. You see. There is the army camp and we go this, go down here, this way. 10.31.10 Music 10.31.13 Rageh Omaar A smuggled global positioning system is a useful tool in the jungle but it can’t locate landmines. Both sides lay mines. But it’s usually the villagers, at least two a week, who step on them. 10.31.26 Music 10.31.30 Saw La One land mine here, just here. So you need to follow the way here. 10.31.35 Music 10.31.43 Saw La Also one in this area. One here also. Just near the way. 10.31.54 Rageh Omaar In spite of the precautions, their medic stepped on a mine last year and lost his leg. 10.31.59 Music 10.32.12 Rageh Omaar Up to a million people in Burma have been forced off their land by the military junta, which uses torture, rape and murder in its fight against the Karen. 10.32.42 Music 10.32.49 Graphic ELIANA GONZALES ACOSTA Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia SOUTHERN COLOMBIA 10.32.57 Rageh Omaar Eliana has been patrolling this jungle for nearly thirty years. She’s the highest ranking woman in the Marxist FARC guerrilla movement, a third of their fighters are women. 10.33.07 Music 10.33.12 Eliana Voice over The first time I spoke with her, my daughter said; ‘Mama, how is it that politics is more important than I am?’ I said; ‘you’re important too, that’s why I went to fight in the first place’. 10.33.24 Music 10.33.28 Rageh Omaar Eliana is fifty and a grandmother. She’s had three children but has never lived a normal family life with them; serving with FARC instead. 10.33.36 Music 10.33.37 Rageh Omaar Eliana’s second daughter also enlisted with the guerrillas. Until last month they served in the same unit. 10.33.52 Eliana Voice over I joined the guerrillas in ninety seventy-five. It was nine years after that, that I first went back to see my sisters and my daughter. 10.34.08 Rageh Omaar Eliana has taken part in ambushes against government troops and paramilitaries. Their jungle hideouts are under regular attack from government aircraft. 10.34.22 Eliana Voice over There are days when they fly all day long. It’s part of a psychological war. They fly really low as if they were going to drop their bombs at any time. Planting terror. 10.34.36 Rageh Omaar FARC is one of the best funded rebel groups in the world, earning more than three hundred million dollars a year through drugs, kidnap and extortion. 10.34.43 Music 10.34.47 Graphic Major LUIS OSPINA Gaula Anti Terrorist Unit BOGOTA, COLOMBIA 10.34.55 Luis’ wife Subtitles Dear Lord Almighty, we thank you for this day, and for life. 10.35.03 Rageh Omaar FARC has put a price on the head of Major Luis Ospina. 10.35.11 Luis’ wife Voice over At the moment the work he is doing is anti-kidnapping. It’s a real challenge for everyone. I’ve asked, very selfishly at times, why does my husband have to put his life at risk for the sake of others? One day he’s not going to come home. But I’m also very proud because he has a chance to make other families happy. 10.35.52 Rageh Omaar Luis’ main duty today is to attend the funeral of seven members of his elite Gaula Unit, who were killed in an ambush by the army which mistook them for FARC rebels. 10.36.07 Luis Voice over It’s really sad when you’re burying a young guy. Especially a young guy who’s barely begun to live his life. It’s happened, it shouldn’t have happened, but we’re aware that this is one of the risks we run in this profession. 10.36.30 Soldiers Subtitles Good morning, Major! National Police! God and country! 10.36.40 Rageh Omaar Today happens to be a public holiday. More traffic on the roads means a greater risk of kidnap, so Luis plans a protective road block on one of the busiest routes in and out of the capital. 10.37.01 Aston GRACE Philippines 10.37.07 Rageh Omaar Back on parade and Grace is about to receive the scores from yesterday’s shooting practice. 10.37.15 Soldier Subtitles Grace – 1 out of 3. 100 metres, bulls eye – 15 end score. 10.37.26 Grace Voice over I hit one out of three at fifty metres. And at one hundred metres, a bulls eye, 15 points. 10.37.38 Rageh Omaar Yesterday’s target practice marked the end of Grace’s formal training. The New People’s Army is mainly a rural organisation but now they carry out attacks on urban targets, including assassinations. 10.37.50 Gunfire 10.37.55 Grace Voice over I can’t express what it’s like to kill a person because I’ve never done it but I’m ready to kill. We joined the revolution because we want to kill the enemy. We’ve got only two choices; to kill or be killed. 10.38.24 Rageh Omaar The poor shooting results by the new recruits come at a bad time for the squad. They hear that three days earlier several of their comrades were killed by Philippine government forces in a three hour gun battle. 10.38.42 Soldier Subtitles The enemies were able to take the initiative… and their snipers had the advantage, so four of our comrades were killed. 10.38.55 Rageh Omaar In total, twenty-five thousand people have been killed in this war. 10.39.04 Grace Voice over What do I feel? I’m scared. Therefore I have to intensify my struggle. 10.39.18 Singing 10.39.19 Aston MOUSSA Sudan 10.39.23 Soldiers singing Subtitles We took up arms for the sake of the Sudanese people. With our blood, we have to liberate our Sudan. 10.39.45 Moussa Voice over We’re fighting because we’ve been treated unjustly by the government. They closed the schools so people can’t learn and the hospitals. We black people have no rights at all at the moment. 10.40.06 Rageh Omaar The Sudan Liberation Army receives some weapons from other rebel groups, the rest are captured in combat. 10.40.13 Rageh Omaar Black African Muslims used to be the majority in Darfur but in the face of Arab Muslim attacks, more than a million people have now fled their homes. 10.40.35 Rageh Omaar As a farmer Moussa had his own livestock but he sees no prospect of getting that life back. 10.40.44 Moussa Voice over We’re forced to eat monkey meat because we’re hungry. We have so little food that we have to go hunting. If we don’t manage to get anything we have to sleep without food. 10.40.56 Gunshot 10.41.03 Music 10.41.05 Graphic AKHMAD ZIYA Afghan National Army SOUTHERN AFGHANISTAN 10.41.14 Rageh Omaar Close to the border with Pakistan, the New Afghan Army, paid for by the Americans, is on the hunt for Al Qaeda and Taliban fighters. 10.41.22 Music 10.41.26 Rageh Omaar They’ve had a tip off that militants use this ruined building to hide weapons. 10.41.29 Music 10.41.33 Akhmad Voice over We’re fighting against enemies who are terrorists. They’re getting into our country from just about every point on the border. 10.41.41 Music 10.41.46 Rageh Omaar Akhmad Ziya was one of the first to join up. He’d fled into exile when the Taliban were in power. 10.41.56 Akhmad Voice over Those were difficult times. The thing which made us really unhappy was that we knew we had a country but we couldn’t live in or serve our own country; we had to live abroad. 10.42.13 Rageh Omaar Akhmad grew up near the opium poppy fields that supply Afghanistan’s flourishing heroin trade. Opium farmers can earn up to a thousand dollars a month. The Afghan army pays seventy. 10.42.25 Rageh Omaar Two months ago three thousand of the new recruits left en masse. Some went back to the poppy fields; many preferred to go into the pay of war lords who still control much of the country. 10.42.44 Akhmad Voice over In the beginning my family were against me joining the army. From past experience they thought an army’s duty was to be cruel to the people. But when they realised I was serving in a national army to protect the nation they dropped their objections. 10.43.09 Rageh Omaar There are thought to be five thousand Taliban fighters still inside Afghanistan. 10.43.20 Akhmad Voice over I’m not scared to die. If I know that my death or my killing would bring independence and an end to the problem, I would love to die. It would be a matter of pride for me. 10.43.43 Aston “IVAN” Chechnya 10.43.44 Rageh Omaar Last year, Ivan’s colleague was killed whilst on a mine clearing patrol like this one. 10.43.51 Ivan Voice over The de-miner from our first battalion was blown up here. His sniffer dog missed it because it was wrapped in oily rags. The handler moved forward. He touched a branch which moved it, it exploded. That was that. 10.44.08 Rageh Omaar The Russians say the war has killed nine thousand of their troops, fifteen thousand Chechen rebels and as many as a hundred thousand civilians. On this day Ivan’s patrol has to deal with another potential killer – an unexploded shell just by the roadside. 10.44.24 Explosion 10.44.29 Ivan Voice over Killings have become ordinary now. Before when one of our soldiers was killed everyone put crosses on his grave. Now nobody cares. The battalion has to hold a collection for a coffin to send his body home. Nobody cares. What happens, happens. 10.44.49 Graphic Pte. JUAN ALVARADO US Stryker Brigade MOSUL, IRAQ 10.44.57 Rageh Omaar After doing time for drug offences, Juan hopes military service will help put his life in order. 10.45.04 Juan Everybody I know that I really associate with, except for like maybe three or four, we’re all troublemakers, all did drugs, all did this, you know. Reason why they joined; don’t know, they don’t know either really. 10.45.20 Rageh Omaar There’s just been a report that an American soldier from a sister unit has been found dead on the base. Juan’s team are scrambled to take over that unit’s patrolling mission. 10.45.31 Juan I heard somebody from First Platoon died and the causes are unknown right now so, we’re going to get someone to investigate what’s going on. 10.45.40 Rageh Omaar The soldier committed suicide in the toilet block with his own machine gun. In recent weeks Juan’s patrols have become increasingly hazardous. There have been twice as many US casualties in March as there were in February. 10.45.56 Juan The people that we’re fighting aren’t really big terrorists or anything like that they’re mostly just criminals, Iraqi criminals who dislike us. 10.46.12 Juan My mum, my dad, my sister, my brother dislike the fact that I’m here. When I call I don’t really tell them that much cos you can’t just start blaring out things, you know I saw this, I saw this dead baby or I saw this blown up arm. Don’t sort of want to tell them too many of that thing because I don’t tell Mum that. I tell my sister and my cousin but not my mum because she wouldn’t really like that. 10.46.36 Aston ZAZA Georgia 10.46.38 Zaza Subtitles Everyone to your stations! Move! Untie the stern and cast off. 10.46.53 Zaza Voice over First and foremost I love my work and what I do. Then, of course, I love women. And I love beer. 10.47.05 Rageh Omaar As they head off on their two-day mission, Zaza’s first priority is rations. The Georgian Navy provides no food. The crew members have to buy their own. But Zaza has a plan; to scrounge some fish from a nearby ship. 10.47.20 Zaza Subtitles Dress properly! Don’t approach that ship like a bunch of pirates! You hear me? Uniforms and life vests. And wear boots, too… you can’t go with those slippers. 10.47.33 Music 10.47.40 Zaza Subtitles They have a fish called ‘Khamsa’. What else can they have? Oh God! If we get a bit of herring, that’ll be good. 10.47.56 Sailor on radio Subtitle They’re saying they haven’t got any fish. 10.48.01 Zaza Subtitles Well, come back if they haven’t. What can you do? Come back. 10.48.07 Music 10.48.14 Zaza Subtitles Come on, come on! Oh, it’s a piece of rubber. Let it go… 10.48.23 Rageh Omaar The failure of the fishing expedition means Zaza will have to make existing food supplies last. 10.48.31 Zaza Subtitles Is the food ready? Do we get second helpings? No way! 10.48.42 Music 10.48.44 Rageh Omaar Lunch for the poorest fighting units, like Saw La’s in Burma, consists of anything they can find that’s edible. Today, it’s honeycomb. 10.48.52 Music 10.48.54 Rageh Omaar The day before they’d managed to kill a native civet cat. 10.48.57 Music 10.49.06 Rageh Omaar For Chong Cha, preparing lunch is more extreme. 10.49.09 Music 10.49.16 Chong Cha Voice over We take off the skin, boil it, then grind it and wash it several times to get rid of the sticky poison juice, then we steam it and eat it. It’s tasteless but we have no choice. 10.49.31 Music 10.49.35 Rageh Omaar The Hmong are constantly on the move and have no time to grow food. They have learnt to turn sawdust and pulp from trees into noodles. And for protein… 10.49.50 Hmong woman Voice over These beetles are found eating our food supplies. We’re starving so we eat them too. 10.49.56 Music 10.50.07 Shushila Voice over If the locals give us food we eat it. We eat whatever they provide for us in this struggle because we get our food from the people. 10.50.14 Music 10.50.20 Rageh Omaar Russian soldiers in Chechnya get food which is high in calories – if not presentation. 10.50.25 Music 10.50.33 Juan There’s one pizza place which has ok pizza and there’s this other place that has, they have like Arabian food and they also have like American food but done in their own style, like they have hamburgers, quesadillas. Quesadillas are bad though but they have stuff like that here. 10.50.51 Juan Excuse me! Can you get his attention? Can you ask him for some fucking cheese! 10.50.59 Music 10.51.06 Hugo Voice over The food’s good. There’s lots of it. There’s no shortage, we eat at least five or six times a day. 10.51.14 Music 10.51.24 Albert Voice over As a treat today we have sausage, bread and juice. It’s very tasty. 10.51.28 Music 10.51.38 Rageh Omaar In Mogadishu, Muktar has learnt he has to fight for every scrap. 10.51.49 Music 10.52.12 Aston GRACE Philippines 10.52.17 Singers Subtitles We’re very poor farmers We’re the foundation of this nation… but we live miserably Our work is to clear and till the land 10.52.42 Woman Subtitles And now, Grace’s turn to update us about international events. Give her a hand! 10.52.48 Applause 10.52.52 Grace Subtitles They claim that Bin Laden masterminded the operation on the twin towers. But the truth is that the ones who attacked the twin towers… were the US imperialists themselves. 10.53.17 Grace Voice over In the revolution our purpose is not only to kill or defeat the enemy. We also do propaganda work through mobile clinics such as this. This is the third kid we’ve circumcised and it’s for free. 10.53.38 Man Subtitle It’s done. Now you can boast about it. 10.53.46 Grace Subtitles Stop crying! Stop crying! Come on, you’re the last one. It’s really not painful. 10.53.56 Grace Subtitles Look, there’s chocolate. You can eat it after the circumcision. 10.54.01 Child Subtitle I don’t like it! 10.54.08 Aston MUKTAR Somalia 10.54.09 Rageh Omaar Muktar has finished his shift on the roadblock. He calls in on some friends who have just bought a bag of marijuana. 10.54.29 Rageh Omaar The day before Muktar showed us the house he grew up in until his parents were killed. 10.54.36 Muktar Voice over This is the house where my mother and father died. It was hit by a mortar. We went in here. This was my bedroom. The mortar came through here; it came sideways, there was a grenade as well. My mum died right here. Life was better then; my mother and father were still here. I used to play football all the time. 10.55.26 Music 10.55.29 Aston LUIS Colombia 10.55.39 Luis Voice over Four or five years ago the FARC kidnapped a number of people in this area and closed the road. They picked out a few of them. They kidnapped them. They kept them for a long time. 10.56.05 Music 10.56.10 Rageh Omaar Colombia has the highest kidnap rate in the world. Last year there was a kidnap by FARC or other gangs on average every four hours. The security forces, which America helps to fund, only rescue a third. The public holiday travellers have to put up with the disruption of Luis’ vehicle checks. 10.56.32 Luis Voice over We are looking at the possibility of finding weaponry, of finding narcotics. There could also be the possibility of finding a kidnapped person but normally these checks are carried out only as a preventative measure and for security on the roads. If anybody is thinking about kidnapping someone they know that we will find them. 10.57.00 Music 10.57.03 Aston ELIANA Colombia 10.57.36 Eliana Voice over Women, according to the Colombian state, are only there to cook, wash, get married and have children. 10.57.55 Eliana Voice over Four years ago one of my sons was killed. That eleven year old boy was killed only because he was the son of a guerrilla woman. He was killed by the paramilitaries. I received the news eight days after he died. By then he was already buried. 10.58.16 Music 10.58.30 Aston CHONG CHA Laos 10.58.30 Rageh Omaar Chong Cha’s rifle is, in part, an old American one from the Vietnam war. 10.58.44 Chong Cha Voice over This gun can only fire one shot; it doesn’t work properly. So in combat you can only take one shot and run. 10.59.01 Chong Cha Voice over The original piece that came from this weapon is worn out, it’s no good to use. So I hand carved this wooden piece and put it together and just tried to make it fit. We don’t have machines. This is the kind of knife I use for carving; it’s all hand made. 10.59.35 Chong Cha Voice over I have killed seven or eight Communist soldiers but I’ve never pointed my gun at anyone. We stole an enemy landmine and blew it up and they all died. 11.00.08 Aston SHUSHILA Nepal 11.00.10 Rageh Omaar Today, on her first ever active mission, Shushila is to lay a pipe bomb to ambush Nepalese soldiers. 11.00.20 Soldier Subtitles Don’t move it! Now, you must tamp it down with a pointed stick to compress it If you don’t tamp it properly… the explosion will not be as forceful 11.00.39 Shushila Subtitle So it won’t be as effective? 11.00.42 Soldier Subtitles With this burst bomb, you must tamp it or it will explode in different directions 11.00.51 Rageh Omaar The day before, the trainee unit was shown a smaller device, a fraction of the size of a real pipe bomb and they were taught how to set it off. The idea is to trigger the explosive by sending an electric pulse down a wire attached to the bomb. In the rehearsal the bomb wouldn’t explode; the unit’s commander went back to check why. With nearly fatal results. 11.01.13 Explosion 11.01.20 Cheering 11.01.26 Shushila Voice over We lay mines by narrow access paths. When we blast these mines the enemy has limited choices. They cannot run far away and we can attack them with other weapons. They might fall from high cliffs so we don’t even have to shoot. It’s very effective. 11.01.57 Music 11.02.01 Aston MOUSSA Sudan 11.02.06 Rageh Omaar The Arab militia have been through this village; it’s deserted. 11.02.10 Music 11.02.14 Rageh Omaar As many as twenty thousand black Africans have been fleeing the region in a week. Moussa’s heard many reports of rapes. 11.02.21 Music 11.02.25 Rageh Omaar He tries to get some information from women who, like him, have lost their land and livestock. 11.02.31 Moussa Subtitles Come here, don’t be scared. You’re bringing wood? 11.02.35 Woman Subtitle Yes, we went and got some wood. 11.02.37 Moussa Subtitle How is the situation? 11.02.41 Woman Subtitle One person got killed. 11.02.43 Moussa Subtitles Bad situation isn’t it? Don’t worry, it’s the same everywhere. 11.02.48 Rageh Omaar The war is already thought to have cost ten thousand lives. 11.02.55 Moussa Voice over I’ve killed so many of the enemy I can’t even count. I don’t kill just anybody; I only kill those who infringe my rights, those I have to kill. 11.03.08 Aston HUGO Congo 11.03.13 Hugo Voice over It’s very likely that there are militia hiding in the market and it’s likely that those militia are being protected by the population. So you never get anyone saying; he’s a militia. It’s very tricky. 11.03.29 Rageh Omaar A year ago, five hundred people were killed in one massacre in this very market, when the members of one tribe, the Hema, seized the homes of another, the Lendu. It forced the UN to take a tougher stance and Hugo thinks they’ve made a real difference. 11.03.51 Hugo Voice over Before then no one went out on the streets, everywhere was abandoned. All the paint on the houses had come off, there were hardly any shops. Little by little all this began to change. 11.04.05 Rageh Omaar There are around twelve thousand people in the Displaced People’s Camp; all wanting UN protection from the militia gangs fighting for control of the region’s rich mineral resources. 11.04.17 Hugo Voice over They’re just children. Like in the rest of the world they carry on being children. Perhaps tomorrow him, him or him could be carrying a weapon because adults come along, give them arms and say ‘go fight’. They do it because they need to eat. 11.04.38 Hugo War child. These are war childs. 11.04.47 Music 11.04.51 Aston MUKTAR Somalia 11.04.54 Rageh Omaar Muktar is taking the money he earned from his morning work on a roadblock to the market where he wants to buy some of the drug Khat, a stimulant that nearly every militia man is addicted to. 11.05.07 Muktar Subtitles How much? How much for a bunch? 11.05.12 Man Subtitle Sixty for a bunch. 11.05.16 Muktar Subtitle I’ll give you fifty. 11.05.22 Man Subtitle Give me fifty-five. 11.05.49 Rageh Omaar Muktar has made his way to one of Mogadishu’s tea houses. 11.05.55 Rageh Omaar It’s neutral territory, where various militias meet up to chew Khat and swap stories. 11.06.04 Muktar Voice over I’m not afraid; I’m not afraid of any kind of bullet, nothing. Let me show you this; I was shot in the leg. They shot me here and it came out this side, so what? 11.06.21 Muktar Voice over I sometimes remember my parents. When I see other kids walking with their parents, that’s when I feel sad. 11.06.31 Friend Voice over That’s why we left our parents to bring peace to this country. We would like the chance to go to school. That would be our most beautiful wish. 11.06.57 Music 11.06.59 Aston SHUSHILA Nepal 11.07.14 Radio report Subtitles Here’s the news from Radio Nepal… Human Rights organisations have appealed to the Maoists… to release the members of the security forces they captured… during the attack on the town of Beni. 11.07.31 Rageh Omaar Shushila hears reports of one Maoist victory in a war that has cost eight thousand lives in recent years. Finally she arrives at the ambush position. 11.07.46 Shushila Voice over This is the only approach route the enemy can use to reach our village. We will have no option but to explode the mine if the enemy comes this way. If they enter our base they’ll create havoc, they’ll kill people. There will be a lot of violence and terror. 11.08.10 Rageh Omaar The stones are added to the pipe bomb to inflict maximum casualties when it explodes. 11.08.21 Shushila Voice over Of course we have feelings because the people who die are our brothers and sisters. Yes, we feel sorry for them. They are giving their lives and taking the lives of our comrades just for money. We feel sad to see them die but we feel angry when we remember the sweat and blood shed by eight thousand countrymen. 11.08.54 Rageh Omaar With the bomb hidden, Shushila heads up to a lookout position, eleven thousand feet above sea level. From here she’ll be able to spot any passing government army patrols. 11.09.03 Music 11.09.13 Shushila Voice over I’m not a terrorist; I’m fighting for the ninety-five percent of Nepal’s population who live in poverty. Although some of the world’s media might look upon us as terrorists, we are fighting for the poor, I cannot be a terrorist. 11.09.37 Aston NATI Gaza Strip 11.09.37 Rageh Omaar By mid afternoon in Gaza, the attacks from Rafah have subsided. Nati takes command of an armoured patrol that heads off to look for tunnels that run under the Egyptian border into Rafah, to smuggle in weapons. 11.10.00 Rageh Omaar Yesterday, in an attempt to expose any tunnels running under the border road, Nati’s team set off an explosive. 11.10.10 Explosion 11.10.14 Rageh Omaar The Israelis have recorded over twelve thousand attacks on settlements and military positions in Gaza over the last four years, killing over a hundred Israelis. In the same period eleven hundred Palestinian militants and civilians have been killed and almost two thousand of their homes destroyed. 11.10.32 Rageh Omaar Israeli Prime Minister, Ariel Sharon, has pledged to dismantle the settlements and pull Israeli troops out of Gaza. 11.10.44 Nati Voice over I respect them and I hate them. I respect them for their initiative, their will and for sticking to their ideology. I hate them for doing that in a violent way. They decided to negotiate the right for this land by way of war, by killing civilians and soldiers and this is not the right way. If you have such a strong ideology you can use it in other ways, at the negotiation table. Nobody needs this war. 11.11.16 Music 11.11.27 Rolling aston To find out more on the conflicts featured in this programme, digital viewers press RED, or visit bbc.co.uk/this world 10.11.37 Music 11.11.38 Aston “SAW LA” Burma 11.11.41 Rageh Omaar By early evening Saw La reaches the Karen outpost which is closest to the Burmese Army’s positions, making it the most dangerous. 11.11.48 Music 11.11.55 Saw La Voice over We dare not make camp on the other side of the river because it’s mined. 11.12.12 Saw La Subtitle It’s on that side. 11.12.24 Saw La Subtitle That’s it! It’s a f***ing stone! 11.12.30 Rageh Omaar The Karen rebels have around two thousand fighters; they face an army of four hundred thousand. 11.12.39 Music 11.12.41 Aston HUGO Congo 11.13.03 Hugo Voice over It’s a great experience in a lot of different ways, professionally and just being around each other. You discover a lot of things about yourself, about the men you’re in charge of, your friendships, many things. You make the most of it. 11.13.28 Aston ZAZA Georgia 11.13.29 Rageh Omaar Zaza and his Navy must stop any ships trying to supply arms to the rebellious northern region of Abkhazia. But Abkhazia has Russia’s backing and the dispute could escalate into full blown civil war. 11.13.46 Zaza Voice over The Abkhazians want to rob the Georgians of their land and unite with Russia. This is completely unacceptable and no Georgian will tolerate it. 11.13.59 Zaza Subtitle Switch all external lights off. 11.14.01 Rageh Omaar As night falls, Zaza orders a black out so his ship doesn’t present a target. He’s starting to feel the full weight of his new responsibilities. 11.14.13 Zaza Voice over Don’t get me wrong, I’m not worried or anything but I do have a slight sense of discomfort as this is the first time I am going into Abkhaz waters as captain. 11.14.26 Rageh Omaar Georgian special forces arrive. With their superior combat training it’ll be their decision whether to risk boarding any vessels found sailing illegally. 11.14.37 Zaza Voice over We’ve encountered armed groups aboard some of these ships in the past and there’s a risk of engagement. Shots might be fired and then of course there’s a grave risk that some of us might be killed. 11.14.52 Rageh Omaar Zaza faces a long night; they’ll be off Abkhazia by dawn. 11.15.04 Aston “IVAN” Chechnya 11.15.11 Ivan Voice over How many hours have passed? We were here at four thirty am. The working day is finished; if only that was true. In reality it still goes on. We’re meant to wear these hats on duty but it’s too hot right now. 11.15.39 Rageh Omaar The officers in the barracks settle down for dinner in their own canteen. Ivan, despite his length of service, is not an officer. 11.15.50 Ivan Voice over I’ve already eaten. I’ve had what Russian soldiers call ‘bitch packets’ – instant noodles. To go to the conscripts’ canteen and wait two hours for food is not an option for me. It’s unpleasant. I’ve served in the army since nineteen ninety-five, longer than the officers, yet I still have to go to the common canteen, eat God knows what and end up sitting on the toilet shitting myself. That’s why I don’t go there; because I respect myself. 11.16.29 Aston SHUSHILA Nepal 11.16.43 Rageh Omaar Shushila has been waiting in position since mid- afternoon, waiting for an army patrol to come past. If one does, the bomb will be detonated and Shushila must shoot any survivors. 11.17.02 Aston LUIS Colombia 11.17.02 Singing 11.17.15 Rageh Omaar In Colombia, on this day, Luis is attending the funeral of the seven military policemen who were mistaken for FARC guerrillas and killed in a botched government raid. 11.17.25 Singing 11.17.33 Luis Voice over It’s much easier to plan an operation, to suddenly rescue a hostage, to supervise the arrest of some extortionist and deliver him to the authorities. These are things you are trained to do. But to give families words of comfort is very difficult because the pain is very intense. 11.18.04 Rageh Omaar Today is also the birthday of Luis’ second daughter, Anna Maria. 11.18.14 Luis’ wife Subtitle Fourteen years old! 11.18.18 Rageh Omaar But Luis is finding it difficult to get into the party mood. 11.18.21 Television report Subtitles We’ve learnt that some of the bodies had residue of gunpowder… which meant they were shot at close range. 11.18.37 Family singing Happy Birthday 11.18.58 Aston NATI Gaza Strip 11.19.02 Rageh Omaar Nati’s unit are once again coming under fire. Their earlier explosion looks to have paid off as his team believe they’ve discovered a tunnel under the road next to the Egyptian border. Getting out of their armoured vehicles to inspect it draws fire from nearby Rafah. 11.19.20 Gunfire 11.19.22 Rageh Omaar Nati and his men carry on digging. As well as smuggling in weapons to Rafah, the tunnels have also been used to lay bombs under Israeli patrols on the road above. 11.19.35 Gunfire 11.19.39 Nati Voice over You can’t ask a soldier what his average day is like, what his daily routine is. Our routine is made up of unexpected things. Last night I didn’t believe I’d be here twenty-four hours later, digging a hole, trying to find a tunnel that wants to kill my friends. 11.20.04 Rageh Omaar After fifty hours without sleep and coming under fire several times during the day, Nati is heading back to base. 11.20.18 Aston ALBERT Nagorno Karabakh 11.20.21 Rageh Omaar Another day of trench war stalemate ends for Albert; his third and final watch of the day is over. 11.20.36 Albert Voice over My basketball trainer always told me; if you don’t kick them, then they will kick you. We’ve never killed anyone and we don’t want to kill. But if our enemies violate the border and our lives and the lives of our families are at stake, I think I could do it. Of course the first time will be tough; maybe it will be less hard with experience. God forbid it should come to that. 11.21.14 Jimmy Subtitles Corporal, there were no incidents to report on my watch at the front. Corporal Minasyan ready to hand over the watch. 11.21.27 Music 11.21.27 Aston JIMMY Uganda 11.21.29 Rageh Omaar Nightfall on this one day and Jimmy once again is guarding the Ugandan children as they leave their villages for the town, in fear of kidnap by the cultish Lords Resistance Army 11.21.39 Music 11.21.42 Rageh Omaar The lucky ones will sleep in shelters protected by Jimmy and his unit. The others on the streets. 11.21.53 Jimmy Voice over I am married and I have two children. I feel very bad seeing civilians killed in wars like this. It’s my duty as a solider to make sure that I stop such actions. 11.22.09 Music 11.22.19 Rageh Omaar Juan’s rapid response team is taking up a position in the desert outside Mosul to watch for suspicious Iraqi activity; he’s likely to be out here for another four hours. 11.22.20 Aston JUAN Iraq 11.22.29 Juan We’ve been fired at like rounds going over our heads. Last night a fucking mortar was like a couple of metres away from us. You don’t want to die but you know, you’re not the whole time constantly thinking about it. 11.22.59 Aston SHUSHILA Nepal 11.23.00 Rageh Omaar Shushila and her comrades come down from their mountain top ambush positions to celebrate the Maoist victory they had heard about on the radio earlier. 11.23.09 Man Subtitles Maoism, Marxism, Leninism, hooray, hooray! Nepal Communist Party Maoists, hooray, hooray! Down with the fascist King Gyanendra! Down with him! 11.23.23 Gunfire 11.23.33 Shushila Voice over The enemy didn’t turn up today but this is how we operate. There is no need to feel sad that we had to return without a result, we gained something. We collected reports on their activities. That is our achievement, we are not disappointed. 11.23.53 Rageh Omaar She ends this day, her first on active mission, writing in her diary to her boyfriend, who was killed in battle last year. 11.24.01 Music 11.24.03 Shushila Voice over We expressed our commitment to this movement together. Yesterday we were together but now he has sacrificed his life for his people and his country. I always remember those days. 11.24.15 Music 11.24.20 Aston GRACE Philippines 11.24.23 Rageh Omaar Grace’s best friend and confidante is Nicole. But Nicole is leaving tomorrow to rejoin her own unit and it may be years before they meet again. 11.24.36 Grace Voice over Whenever I’m with Comrade Nicole we talk about our personal lives, our past lives, our lives as students, my bourgeoisie background. But we talk more about political issues. That’s why we get along so well. 11.25.03 Nicole Voice over How to pursue our struggle as women and our many sacrifices and our feelings about the opposite sex and how we can overcome these. So we give moral support to each other. And we can just laugh about this. 11.25.34 Grace Voice over Every time I go to bed I always think about the clash of my personal and political beliefs, every night I think about it because I die of loneliness thinking of my family. But I must overcome it so that my political priorities will win. In the morning I will realise that I should not be so influenced by my personal life. 11.26.10 Aston CHONG CHA Laos 11.26.11 Rageh Omaar Chong Cha has managed to get a meal together for his family. Tomorrow he will be back patrolling, hunting food and ready to flee at a moment’s notice. 11.26.27 Chong Cha Voice over We would rather live like this because if we bump into the Communists they will kill us. The day will come when the leaders of the international community arrive and rescue us. If they don’t, we will never see an end to this. 11.26.58 Rageh Omaar Three days before, our film team had walked through the jungle for days to become the first foreigners to see Chong Cha and his Hmong villagers in twenty- eight years. They thought the outside world had finally come to help them. 11.27.22 Music 11.27.25 Aston MUKTAR Somalia 11.27.42 Muktar Voice over If there is peace I will go to school; to Koranic school. I would like to do something for my country. I love my country; I don’t want to go anywhere else. 11.27.53 Music 11.28.02 Rageh Omaar Four days after participating in this film, Muktar was shot and killed following an argument with one of his friends. 11.28.16 End music 11.28.26 Rageh Omaar For more in depth information or to comment on tonight’s programme, you can visit our website at: www.bbc.co.uk/thisworld Credits 11.28.15 Narrator RAGEH OMAAR Composer BRIGITTE CALIFANO Afghanistan PHIL GOODWIN BILAL SARWARY Burma FRED SCOTT IAN WATT Chechnya PAUL MITCHELL ANDREI ERASTOV Colombia (FARC) GUILLERMO GALDOS HOLLMAN MORRIS Colombia (GAULA) TOM WHITTER JEFF CHAGRIN Congo DARREN CONWAY Gaza BOAZ ESHTAI NOAM SHALEV Georgia ZURAB KODALASHVILI Iraq DODGE BILLINGSLEY Laos RUHI HAMID MISHA MALTSEV Nagorno Karabakh NEIL HARVEY Nepal NIK MILLARD VIVEK RAJ Philippines JOE PHUA ORLANDO DE GUZMAN Somalia ELIZABETH C. JONES Sudan GLENN MIDDLETON JIM FOSTER Uganda CALLUM MACRAE Colourist BRIAN METHERELL Dubbing Mixer NIGEL READ VT Editors JOE BENTLEY ROD HUTSON Graphic Design JUMP Subtitles TINA JAGGER Production Co-ordinators MARTHA O’SULLIVAN NAOMI GOUREVITCH Programme Assistant AGNES TEEK Production Manager JANE WILLEY Unit Manager SUSAN CRIGHTON BBC News Unit Manager TANYA WARNAKULASURIYA Safety Advisors JOHN GLENDININING CAROLINE NEIL Film Research NICK DODD Research LIZ ROSILIO SHAHIDA TULAGANOVA Picture Editors RYSHARD OPYRCHAL MARK COLLINS BBC News Producers JONATHAN CHAPMAN KEVIN BISHOP Producer WILL DAWS A BBC/TLC Co-Production 11.28.37 Rageh Omaar And over on BBC Four now you can see more of the story of Muktar and the Hmong people in a special programme – One Day of War Frontlines. 11.28.53 THIS WORLD Editor KAREN O’CONNOR BBC © BBC MMIV 11.28.57 End BBC This World 1 1