MAN: We can`t hear you.

PRESIDENT GEORGE W. BUSH AT GROUND ZERO: I can hear you and the people...and the people who knocked these buildings down will hear all of us soon.

ALL CHANT: USA! USA! USA!

Within weeks, out of the wreckage of September 11, the focus of America`s wrath began to take shape.

GEORGE W. BUSH: Whether we bring our enemies to justice, or bring justice to our enemies, justice will be done.

The US Government and military principally focused on two countries for retribution and response - Afghanistan and Somalia - both accused of providing safe harbour for al-Qa`ida and other extreme Islamic groups.

GEORGE W. BUSH: I have a message for our military - be ready.

ARCHIVE TV NEWS: An American warship is stationed off the Somali coast and there`s speculation that Kenya might be used as a launch-pad for US attacks.

On top of its suspected al-Qa`ida connections, war-torn Somalia had the added misfortune of being the site of another American tragedy. It was here in 1993, that the bodies of American soldiers were dragged through the streets, by militias loyal to Mohammed Aideed an act which was never avenged.

ARCHIVE - US DEFENCE SECRETARY DONALD RUMSFELD: Somalia has been a place that has harboured al-Qa`ida, and to my knowledge still is.

By November, the US fleet had taken up positions off the coast of Somalia. The Americans shut down the country`s banking system and most analysts expected Somalia and its capital, Mogadishu, to be smouldering by Christmas. But then the American Hawks went quiet, and it`s now becoming clearer why. A quirk of fate has delivered the US a remarkable ally in Somalia - not the official government there, but the main warlord of Mogadishu - superpower-to-superpower - a man with some remarkable qualifications to deal with the Americans. A US citizen, a former city engineer from California, a Gulf War veteran and former US Marine.

HUSSEN AIDEED: I`m a Marine and I will always remain a Marine. And I believe the American ideal and the American way of life, and I grew up and educated in the US and I have an excellent relationship with the US people, as well as the US government.

Most remarkable of all, he`s the son of Mohammed Aideed, who many hold responsible for the death of 70 US and UN soldiers in Mogadishu in 1993. What`s more, he`s a member of the Republican Party, and although a Muslim, he shares America`s distaste for radical Islamic groups.

HUSSEN AIDEED: We cannot allow Somalia to be an Islamic state. Those who try to say that we are anarchic, we are this, the alternative for Somalia is to have a bin Laden government. There is no other alternative. Somalia will be a base...the biggest base in the whole of Africa to launch terrorism in the US, in Europe and in neighbouring countries.

(AT ADDIS ABABA SPORTS STADIUM) At this sports day in Addis Ababa, the tribal loyalties of this region are on display. It`s in the chanting, not on the track, where each tribe seeks to portray its superior qualities. Perhaps none so dramatically or as accurately as the Somali team. But they`re not the only Somalis in town. The main warlord of Mogadishu has left the presidential palace there and come to Addis Ababa to drum up regional and international support for his cause. Support for what he sees as the forthcoming decisive battle for Somalia, to finish off the Islamic groups there and the UN-recognised government that nominally controls it. Hussen Aideed is confident in the capacity of his infamous militias to win any battle.

HUSSEN AIDEED: They have no...they are not afraid at all. For them, dying is not in their book. For them, catching the other person`s, the enemy`s rifle is their main objective and they will go within less than 15 minutes to overtake the professional army, trained to take from his rifle, they are ready to lose their lives. So that kind of mentality they have.

The rifles his men have been capturing are from the UN-backed transitional government - the TNG. Installed two years ago, it`s become virtually irrelevant in the face of Aideed`s militias.

HUSSEN AIDEED: Yes, but the enemy`s dead and wounded are times ten.

It`s a long way from California. A twist of history in 1993 set him on a path from city engineer to leader of the Mogadishu militias. For the past decade, Somalia has been in an almost permanent state of civil war. In 1991, Aideed`s father was one of the leaders of a successful revolt against the dictator Siad Barre. Mohammed Aideed emerged as the central figure of the chaos that followed, fighting off 100 factions across the country and firmly holding on to half of Mogadishu. A pitiless war unfolded. Aid groups that tried to assist civilians with food and medicine were attacked and looted. As starvation took hold, the international community, led by America, stepped in.

ARCHIVE - US SECRETARY OF STATE COLIN POWELL: It`s sort of like the cavalry coming to the rescue, straightening things up for a while, and then letting the marshals come back in to keep things under control.

December 1992, America commits ground forces to protect the delivery of food aid to the starving. Among the thousands of Marines that came ashore was Hussen Aideed. It was an unexpected return to Somalia - a country he`d left behind as a teenager 14 years before, when he`d gone to live with his mother in America. It was also an unusual reunion of sorts with his father, who his fellow soldiers would soon be trying to kill. There was no sign then, that Aideed - just three years later - would be leading the militias that the US was now clashing with. Aideed had totally embraced his new country and life.

REPORTER: Did you like California?

HUSSEN AIDEED: Yeah, too much. I know every corner of California.

REPORTER: A good life there?

HUSSEN AIDEED: Yeah. Girls - I used to date a lot, when I was young.

After a three-month tour of duty in the early days of the Somali mission, Aideed returned to his job as a city engineer in California, his life in the Marine Reserves and ongoing studies at California State University.

HUSSEN AIDEED: I did Minor African Studies and I did Minor Economics and I did Political Science. While I was doing that...

His marriage in 1996 to a Somali girl, also living in America, radically altered the course of his life.

HUSSEN AIDEED: I saw this new government, so I thought I could help.

He returned to Somalia for one week to meet her parents and his father.

HUSSEN AIDEED: I never went back to the US. I told my wife to go, I never went back to the US.

Almost as soon as he arrived, his father left for yet another front line. Aideed immediately followed, and in the chaos, decided to stay for a while.

REPORTER: Was that a part of your plan, or this was the decision you made when you got there?

HUSSEN AIDEED: The decision I made right there.

ARCHIVE TV NEWS: In the southern sector of Mogadishu, thousands turned out for the funeral of Mohammed Farrah Aideed. To the mourners...

Just nine months after Aideed`s return to Somalia, his father was assassinated.

ARCHIVE TV NEWS: ..to the outside world, he was a despotic warlord, responsible in large measure for five years of clan violence, famine and civil war.

The engineer from California virtually inherited the tribes and militias that his father had created. A new warlord was born. According to Aideed, his virtual rule of Mogadishu has ushered in an unprecedented era of peace and prosperity, except for his continual battles with the Islamic group, Al-Ittihad and the official government, who he claims supports their fundamentalist agenda.

REPORTER: You know, I wouldn`t have liked to have been living in Mogadishu in the last ten years, when it`s been effectively under your control, or under your father`s control.

HUSSEN AIDEED: No, Mogadishu is doing very well. It has the best telephone system, best economy, people live peacefully.

REPORTER: Even to this day, there must be, I think there`s something like five gunbattles a day in Mogadishu.

HUSSEN AIDEED: Not much really. It`s completely stable now. We reconciled...the factions have reconciled under SRRC, so there is not much going on, except we are concentrating only on Al-Ittihad and the TNG movement and we are blocking. That`s why TNG were never able to leave from the regions, because we blocked completely against millions and billions of dollars of aid from Arab countries and Persian countries.

REPORTER: And they can`t get out of the city basically?

HUSSEN AIDEED: They cannot get, because we will not allow them.

Two years ago, with the assistance of Arab neighbours and the recognition of the UN, Abdiqassim Salad Hassan was installed as the head of the official government - the TNG.

ARCHIVE - JOURNALIST QUESTION: How can you convince the warlords to come along with you?

ABDIQASSIM SALAD HASSAN: They will come along through peaceful, friendly and brotherly understanding.

But the TNG would remain a government in name only. Here, Aideed stayed put in the presidential palace. The government never got out of their hotels in Mogadishu. Aideed and his new alliance, the SRRC, have maintained effective control, but not the international recognition they now desire.

HUSSEN AIDEED (OVER MAP): This 85% of the country is controlled by the SRRC. Also we control the capital, Mogadishu, is our area of control. The TNG is only in the hotels. The TNG has control itself of Baidoa airport, area periphery in this area, as well as all the sea coast, where al-Qa`ida brings a lot of assistance.

REPORTER: So they have control of the...I mean all these areas you are colouring in, this is essentially the whole country that you control?

HUSSEN AIDEED: Yes, 85% of the country we control.

The members of the alliance he has now forged across the country have never enjoyed much of an international reputation. Until September 11, no-one cared for his battle with the TNG, or for his claims they support al-Ittihad and al-Qa`ida. No-one that is, except the Arab countries he believes oppose him.

HUSSEN AIDEED: If we support, just for two weeks...just for two weeks, if we support the Islamists, the whole world will cry - just two weeks forget about it. Now those who are criticising us. Two weeks - if we let the things go the way the Islamists want it to go, there will be the biggest chaos, worse than Afghanistan. So, I will show you that we are committed. We refused the money. We were told "Do you want millions of dollars? Millions of weapons? We will give you." And I refused the Arab countries, I refused Egypt, I refused Saudi Arabia, I refused Libya, I refused Yemen, I refused al-Qa`ida - to let go Islamic government.

REPORTER (OVER MAP): In this coastal area, you don`t control, right? This is where...

Whatever success his alliance has had, the TNG does control a small, but very significant slice of the country.

HUSSEN AIDEED (OVER MAP): In this area because there are al-Qa`ida and they are in the coast area.

ARCHIVE TV NEWS: On a dusty airstrip outside Mogadishu, Somalis turn on a warm welcome for this unidentified American delegation.

It would seem Aideed`s message has found an audience, although the TNG denies that it is harbouring either terrorist camps or fundamentalist zealots.

ARCHIVE TV NEWS: The officials met factional leaders who claim to have evidence of al-Qa`ida training camps.

HUSSEN AIDEED: We cannot hold too long, without the assistance of the US and the international community.

REPORTER: I mean there`s an irony here, isn`t there? I mean, since September 11, certainly members of your alliance would have been regarded as the enemy of America a year ago, and now they`re going to be...now they are friends.

HUSSEN AIDEED: That`s propaganda. How could I be an enemy? I am a US Marine veteran. We are the best, we served...the Aideed family served in the US Marine Corps, and we are not considered enemy to the US. We are friends, what happened in the eight months we regret, and we never...we consider that eight months, that history should be cut from the American history.

But it`s quite a history to cut out. There`s still a lot of bad blood to be overcome with Aideed and his militias.

REPORTER: When you came to join your father, he was not a popular man in America. I mean, there was the dead soldiers, there was the dead UN soldiers, the dead UN workers, here was a US Marine going to work with him?

HUSSEN AIDEED: But never my father killed, or attacked, with his forces. This was a defence purpose, they were going after him, and the operation was wrong.

REPORTER: He fought back, you say?

HUSSEN AIDEED: He did defend and actually the people defended more.

ARCHIVE NEWS BULLETIN: They were the most violent anti-American demonstrations so far. Followers of General Aideed, one of Mogadishu`s major warlords, set fires in the streets and threw rocks at US troops and other coalition forces.

HUSSEN AIDEED: Because we are in a militia, just like 1775, when the US were trying to get the British out. It was an uprising from the militia.

ARCHIVE TV NEWS: Dawn in Mogadishu and with a call to surrender unanswered, US Marines...

Within the first weeks of the American aid effort, the forces of Aideed`s father became the target of the sharp end of the mission.

ARCHIVE TV NEWS: ... helicopter guns led the assault on a weapons dump belonging to the warlord General Mohammed Aideed.

By the middle of 1993, the target of American and UN mortar fire was Aideed himself.

ARCHIVE TV NEWS: After a week of strikes on weapon and vehicle depots controlled by Mohammed Farrah Aideed, the United Nations targeted the faction leader`s home.

In a rare show of UN resolve and brute force, Aideed`s arrest was ordered. With a bounty on his head, his death was soon expected.

ARCHIVE TV NEWS: The UN has tried desperately for the last four months to capture the man who has forced the US to rethink its policy on Somalia, going so far as to put a $25,000 price on his head, which still stands.

ARCHIVE - MOHAMMED FARRAH AIDEED: This is done to damage my image. It is not true, I am not warlord.

ARCHIVE TV NEWS: The bombings were also retaliation for the deaths of 23 Pakistani soldiers, allegedly ambushed and killed by Aideed`s forces on June 5th.

ARCHIVE - UN SPOKESMAN: I have now called for General Aideed to surrender himself peacefully, to be held in detention for the safety of the public in Somalia and the international community.

As the UN and US attempts to kill or capture Aideed escalated, he went into hiding. No matter how he was viewed or portrayed outside of Somalia, the outside world and their armies, greatly underestimated the local loyalties to him. On October 3, 1993, a squad of American Rangers assembled for a final solution to the Aideed problem. It was a mission that would end in disaster for the Americans.

REPORTER: This was a terrible day for you. You are an American Marine and your father is in control of Mogadishu, and they are trying to kill your father. Both Americans die and Somalis die. A terrible day for you?

HUSSEN AIDEED: It was a terrible day for all Somalis and Americans and the international community - those who know Somalia. It was a terrible day. We call it "the black day". We never liked that day.

ARCHIVE TV NEWS: All that`s changed overnight. One battle left 18 Americans dead and images of capture and quagmire on American minds.

REPORTER: There was a thousand dead that day, right?

HUSSEN AIDEED: Of course. You could say about a thousand died in 45 minutes. A thousand died because of the heavy helicopter and the heavy...the UN was well equipped. And this is population. You are dealing with the militia, you are dealing with the population, women, children, everybody was fighting. We regret what has happened. It was never meant to happen. Those who made this thing happen, meant to happen to fuck-up Somalia. This bloody history was very short. The bloody history part of Somalia was not with the Americans. It was UNISOM... Two...

REPORTER: The UN, the UN forces.

HUSSEN AIDEED: Boutros Ghali and the strategy of the Arab League countries.

REPORTER: But what of the reputation then of your father, your father`s supporters and indeed 1993? If you now seek...

HUSSEN AIDEED: 1993 was only a short period. It was only between June until October 3.

REPORTER: A pretty disastrous period though, and this is burnt into the American psyche, and the Western psyche, and now of course you`ve got Black Hawk Down.

HUSSEN AIDEED: Of course...Black Hawk Down is fiction.

REPORTER: It`s fiction, yeah. But what impact will that have on the West in terms of wanting to commit to Somalia again.

HUSSEN AIDEED: The West knows - it is educated. The West knows very well Somalia.

REPORTER: Well let`s not talk...let`s just talk about the American general public. How keen would they be...

HUSSEN AIDEED: The general public in America know that they went there to deliver food, they never went there to determine the future of the Somali people.

ARCHIVE TV NEWS The victims never had a chance. When a volley of machine-gun fire rained down on them.

Aideed estimates that 6,000 Somali civilians were gunned down or bombed during the UN mission by international troops. Although he`s loathe to make any mention of the US forces amongst them.

HUSSEN AIDEED: Injuries 45,000 we experienced, because it is the capital, very heavily populated.

REPORTER: At the hands of American and UN soldiers?

HUSSEN AIDEED: No UN, not American. The majority were UN. American were very small.

ARCHIVE TV NEWS: The activities of the American and Pakistani forces in the last week, have helped create deep resentment of the international operation among some Somalis.

HUSSEN AIDEED: We were the ones who were suffering. We are the ones who are not talking about it. We forgive and close that chapter when General Aideed was alive.

ARCHIVE TV NEWS: Just in case the Americans have forgotten how much they are hated here, these Somalis want to remind them. "Down with Clinton" they chant. And they threaten to kill the US Marine who are coming back to Mogadishu in the next few days to evacuate the United Nations from Somalia.

REPORTER: You say you can reconcile, you can put it behind you, but what about...

HUSSEN AIDEED: We reconciled that time. The Americans came in and took...

REPORTER: You can, but what about the Somali people, realistically?

HUSSEN AIDEED: The 6,000 you are talking about?

REPORTER: No, no. The people in Mogadishu now, can they...?

HUSSEN AIDEED: Their leadership...they follow our leadership. We reconciled.

REPORTER: So there is no resentment among the Mogadishu people to the American forces?

HUSSEN AIDEED: No. The Americans are always...we respect the ideals of democracy. They elected me. If they are anti-American, they would never have elected me and they would never follow my orders.

HUSSEN AIDEED (JOGGING): And I believe in the American system. For me, I learned the American life, I learned and established...and you know, adjusted to the culture of the American system.

For this American in Mogadishu, some California habits are hard to give up. But maybe some of them will catch on.

HUSSEN AIDEED (JOGGING): As a leader who had a chance to live the good life in California, one of the best states I have the vision that Somalia one day will be one of the best democratic countries, peaceful, it is a commitment, a moral commitment.

Aideed may want Somalia to become a democracy, but it`s his support for another philosophy which has created more allies for him. He supports a local Sufi form of Islam, not the Wahabi Saudi version of his opponents - an African vision for Somalia not an Arabic one.

(AT PRESS CONFERENCE) Somalia sits on the dividing line between black Africa and the Arab north - and Aideed aggressively pitches his vision for a pan-African, pro-Western future - an explosive declaration in a very sensitive region.

HUSSEN AIDEED (AT PRESS CONFERENCE): And Somalia`s future will be with the African countries, and Arab will come as a second.

Aideed paints the TNG with some accuracy as seeking to take Somalia into the Arab bloc, but according to Abdiqassim Salad Hassan, the TNG is neither supported by nor supports Islamic terrorists.

ABDIQASSIM SALAD HASSAN: Here in Somalia, we know he is a liar and there is no such al-Qa`ida forces anywhere in Somalia.

The TNG and Aideed`s SRRC are fighting a battle over their international image which is as fierce as any of their real fights on the ground. Aideed keeps up the public mortar fire by regularly documenting where his opponents are getting their weapons and cash from.

HUSSEN AIDEED (AT PRESS CONFERENCE): These arms are purchased with money supplied by the governments of Libya, Saudi Arabia, Egypt and other Arab states and religious extremist and terrorist organisations such as al-Qa`ida or Hamas.

Who is to hold the title of official government of Somalia is up for grabs again this year. A Somali reconciliation conference for all factions is to be held in Nairobi in the next few months.

HUSSEN AIDEED (AT PRESS CONFERENCE): But we never accept Somalia being an Arab nation.

If the SRRC voting bloc holds, they should have the numbers to be recognised as the national government. Then the assault on his Arab-backed enemies in Somalia can begin in earnest.

HUSSEN AIDEED: If we are given the green light, we can take it. We have no problem with that.

REPORTER: Would you need US support?

HUSSEN AIDEED: We need the political and moral support, yes.

If his estimates of the number of weapons shipped into Somalia from Arab neighbours is half true, quite a battle is brewing and Aideed is presumably counting on more than his militia`s Toyota pick-ups.

REPORTER: Troops on the ground?

HUSSEN AIDEED: We need...in the short term, we need air support, some training of our forces, just like they are helping Spain as of yesterday.

REPORTER: What discussions have you had with the Americans on this and what indications have they given?

HUSSEN AIDEED: We have on that level, political support, economic support, security support and we think the short-term and the long-term relations to be from the number one partner.

REPORTER: What military discussions have you had though? You must have had those. This is the reality of ...

HUSSEN AIDEED: Yes, we have had continuous discussions in terms now of al-Qa`ida movements who is our number one threat now.

While the African and international media has been whispering about unusual movements of British and American forces in the region, Aideed is remarkably frank about their presence.

HUSSEN AIDEED: They continuously go to our headquarters in Baidoa, Mogadishu, they will be in Bosasu in the next few days probably. And I believe the British forces mainly they are on the Somali border toward Kenya. The Americans are on the sea coast, all Somalia sea coast. So they are gathering information and are preparing how to help Somali future institution and government and these are our objectives.

REPORTER: You are gearing up?

HUSSEN AIDEED: We are gearing up.

REPORTER: When is it going to happen?

HUSSEN AIDEED: I think rebuilding Somalia will happen around August/September, November/December. Before the end of this year, it will happen. There is no more time.

There is no doubt the Americans are, at the very least, listening to Aideed and they are certainly in a position to act. But given their history in Somalia, the US would need a very good incentive to get involved - something beyond a relatively small victory in this corner of the war against terrorism.

REPORTER: What strategic interest would the West or America play here if they can secure Somalia, and are you happy for that relationship to blossom?

HUSSEN AIDEED: Definitely. Number one, would be strategic security. Somalia is placed by Godly, by naturally - it has the biggest coast in Africa, after South Africa, and it is strategically placed where the two seas come together - the Red Sea and the Indian Ocean, and the Persian Gulf.

Somalia`s position is God-given indeed. It oversees all of the southern routes into the Middle East. With America reportedly rethinking the long-term viability of its Saudi Arabian bases, Aideed has an offer revealed publicly for the first time in this interview, that may be too good to refuse.

HUSSEN AIDEED: We are ready to give US and the European Union military bases which they can...this long coast we have - the 600 ships of the US can come and go and use it and in return, we get financial assistance for rebuilding our country, institution and democracy.

REPORTER: So you are prepared to give military bases to...

HUSSEN AIDEED: Yes, we are prepared to give the US a permanent bases, long-term bases, which they can look after their interest in Asia as well as the Middle East.

REPORTER: You have discussed this, obviously?

HUSSEN AIDEED: We will discuss in the future and I know that they will come up on the table once we establish in Nairobi a government.

REPORTER: This is not going to make you a popular man in a lot of North Africa and the Middle East?

HUSSEN AIDEED: It`s not a matter of popular, because the threat is anti-democratic forces.

How democratic his own forces are is still open to question.

REPORTER: This is as big a stake as is possible to play?

HUSSEN AIDEED: Yes.

But Aideed is forcing potential allies to make a stark choice.

REPORTER: If you`re offering bases, there`s no question you are going to get American support?

HUSSEN AIDEED: It is the language of the security...of the national security of the world now, because there is no other threat. The terrorism threat and Somalia can provide...we want to take part in dismantling the terrorist network in the world and this is the best we can offer.

Aideed`s open courting of America will dramatically raise the stakes both in the region and for him personally. This is the hardest card he has played to date and he has already survived three assassination attempts in the last three years.

HUSSEN AIDEED: Because it happened to my father, and I`m hoping that it will not happen to me, because our Prophet Mohammed said "A snake cannot bite you in the same hole twice".

For the Americans, it is perhaps Aideed himself and the twists of his life that are God-given. A chance for the US to be permanently within striking distance of all of its major enemies and assets in the region may be irresistible - if yesterday`s battles can ever be forgotten.