Guards with automatic weapons tried to provide security when thousands of Somalis gathered in August 2000 in the capital of Mogadishu to hear their new president, Abdikassim Salad Hassan. But when the number of people began to exceed the stadium’s capacity, the speech was cut short. In the confusion that followed, as the crowd rushed out of the stadium, people were crushed and trampled, suffering serious injury. After a decade of lawlessness and violence, normal life is returning to parts of Somalia. Yet peace is fragile. Hassan’s government struggles to extend its rule beyond sections of the capital.