Somalia: Mogadishu More Dangerous for Aid Workers Now Than Under Al Shabaab
- U.N.
By Katy Migiro,
17 March 2014
It is more dangerous for humanitarians to work in the Somali capital today
than it was when parts of the city were controlled by the Islamist militant
group al Shabaab, a senior United Nations official said.
This makes it very hard for aid workers to help nearly 370,000 internally
displaced people (IDP), mainly women and children, living in squalid camps
scattered around Mogadishu and terrorised by the militias that run them,
Edem Wosornu, acting head of office for OCHA (Office for the Coordination of
Humanitarian Affairs) Somalia, told Thomson Reuters Foundation.
Al Shabaab ruled most of southern Somalia from 2006 until 2011, when African
Union Mission in Somalia (Amisom) forces drove them out of Mogadishu and
other urban areas.
The militants are still able to hit targets in government-controlled parts
of the capital, and across the region, at will.
"I have been covering Somalia for the last three years and this is the worst
it's been," Wosornu said.
"It's even worse than when al Shabaab was in control of a majority of the
districts in Mogadishu because you knew which areas not to go to and you
knew which areas were so-called secure. You were driving in Casspirs
[landmine-protected armoured vehicles] with Amisom and you knew that you
were in a sort of war zone."
JUNE ATTACK A MAJOR BLOW
Humanitarians expanded their presence in Mogadishu after al Shabaab was
driven from the city, relocating staff who had been working out of
neighbouring Kenya.
An attack on the main U.N. compound in Mogadishu in June last year, which
killed at least 22 people, proved a game changer.
"June 19 was a categoric blow," said Wosornu. "The whole landscape changed."
OCHA had 22 staff based in Mogadishu at the time, including nine
international staff. Six were in the U.N. compound when it was attacked, she
said, and as a result of the attack OCHA reduced its staffing in the capital
to two.
The security situation remains precarious. In the past few weeks, Mogadishu
has been hit by a series of suicide bombs, including an attack on the
president's compound on Feb. 21 which killed at least 11 people.
Uganda plans to send about 400 extra troops to protect U.N. personnel in
Mogadishu in response to a U.N. request.
The attacks are making it hard for humanitarians to reach those in need.
Mogadishu is home to some 369,000 IDPs, living in hundreds of ramshackle
settlements scattered across the city. Most are women and children who have
fled famine and war.
The militias who run the squalid camps often rape women and girls in their
tents and extort aid, relief workers say.
"The IDPs live in deplorable conditions," said Wosornu. "The camps are just
appalling."
She tried to visit one of the camps on Feb. 12 with OCHA's operations
director John Ging.
"When we were in the camp we heard gunshots, and the U.N. Department of
Safety and Security had to ask us to get out of the camp immediately," she
said.
"The insecurity in Mogadishu doesn't allow us to do our work the way we want
to. It's not massive assistance delivery because we have serious security
concerns."
The government's plans to relocate the IDPs to a safer site have stalled
because it has been unable to secure control of the proposed site in
Dayniile District on the outskirts of Mogadishu.
"You are looking at Dayniile which is way out of town, which is very
insecure, which was the last place to be secured from al Shabaab by Amisom
and the Somali National Army, and this is the place you are going to send
IDPs to?" asked Wosornu.
The government is also preoccupied with major political challenges.
"The issue of the willingness and the ability of the government should not
be looked at lightly. You just had a massive cabinet reshuffle, the vote of
no confidence for the prime minister. their president was almost killed. and
there is the U.N. harping on about security in IDP camps," Wosornu said. -
Thomson Reuters Foundation