It was the 10th of December 1990, when I heard the sound of gun fire which was coming from the centre of Mogadishu. I thought that it was the strikers' fighting. The next day I found out that it was not the strikers', but it was rebels trying to take over the government forces.

Then I saw that it was government tanks attacking the surrounding area and central Mogadishu. During this fighting, a lot of people were killed and wounded, also a lot of houses were damaged and the people were running to other areas where they thought they would be safer.

But in the end, most of the people found that they had to leave Somalia as they were not safe, no matter where they went. The rebels were telling the people that they were going to take over the country and make peace, but instead they looted and robbed people of their property.

The people were in total confusion, they did not know what to do. Families were separated as they were trying to get away from the fighting. A lot of people were killed while they were trying to get to Kenya and other areas where they thought they would be safe.

One month later, the rebels took over the government and while people were driving around, the rebels were shooting their guns over their heads and saying that they were now going to bring peace, this did not happened.

When the President realised that they were not strong enough to fight back, he went to all the shops who sold guns and opened the doors. He told his soldiers to leave the doors open and let everyone take the guns and that they would eventually kill themselves, this is exactly what happened.

The fighting continued in other areas of Somalia, this again caused a lot of deaths and injuries. The people eventually realised that they would have to leave their country and become refugees and try to get to countries where they would get protection.

A lot came to Australia, Canada, America and several other small countries.