Warriors: Life and death among the Somalis - Paperback

by Gerald Hanley (Author)

Somalia is one of the world's most desolate, sun-scorched lands, inhabited by fierce and independent-minded tribesmen. It was here that Gerald Hanley spent the Second World War, charged with preventing bloodshed between feuding tribes at a remote outstation. Rations were scarce, pay infrequent and his detachment of native soldiers near-mutinous. In these extreme conditions seven British officers committed suicide, but Hanley describes the period as the 'most valuable time' of his life. With intense curiosity and open-mindedness, he explores the effects of loneliness. He comes to understand the Somalis' love of fighting and to admire their contempt for death. 'Of all the races of Africa, ' he says, 'there cannot be one better to live among than the most difficult, the proudest, the bravest, the vainest, the most merciless, the friendliest: the Somalis.'