The year was 1994, but it could be today. The setting is an United Nations Peacekeeping Mission in Somalia on the eve of the American Troops withdrawal after incurring heavy losses in a confrontation with the Warlord, General Mohammed Farah Aidid, leader of the Somali National Alliance. Remaining behind were twenty-two thousand multi-national troops and five hundred United Nations civilian staff.

The famine had receded, but destitution remained rampant. Infrastructure lay in ruins. There was no electricity, no telephones, few hospitals and scant transport. There was no government and no institutions. Gun law settled all arbitration. The country was consumed to anarchy and the general population were terrorised as two major warlords battled fiercely for the spoils of Mogadishu the capital and the provincial towns.

The United Nations (UN) struggled desperately to install the semblance of a government but expecting democracy to tame insurgency proved most elusive than any could have imagined. The UN quickly found itself as the golden goose, while every Somali seemed to be wielding a stick.

As the UN retreated into secured compounds and assumed a defensive stance, the plight of the Somali people continued to plummet. Amongst this confusion, a small group of UN civilians, movie-chair veterans, found the perfect playfield and imagining themselves invincible had the mindset to police Somalia.

Having worked on Humanitarian programmes in East Africa, Asia, including a tour in the Balkans, Maurice O' Neill found himself immersed in the paradox of Somalia. He quickly found that Somalia challenged more than his professionalism, it dug at the roots of his moral beliefs forcing him on a journey of self-discovery.