Facebook Twitter Print Email. Ahmed nods patiently, asks questions and listens attentively. He is in the camp to meet with its representatives, to learn more about their situation. They have very little, and urgently need food and medicine, shelter and health care.
It is hard not to be affected by what he sees and hears, especially as the year-old was born and raised in Mogadishu. As the longest-serving UN humanitarian affairs officer in the capital, Ahmed has heard many similar heart-breaking tales before. I can say that, before, this was a peaceful city. It was paradise. Now, these people living here have lost everything, their property, opportunities for education. There are not enough health services. These last 20 years, when the country was devastated by endless and continuous conflict, it is really painful for me.
The situation has been so dangerous that, until recently, OCHA was unable to deploy more staff to join him. You could be targeted, kidnapped and killed at any time. National staff members like Ahmed make up more than 90 per cent of humanitarian workers around the world, working on the frontlines.
Too often, they bear the brunt of violence, as illustrated today with the deaths of two staff members of the UN World Food Programme WFP and a colleague working for a partner organization in central Somalia.
The dangers of working in Somalia, and restricted access for internationals, have led to a greater reliance on national staff, as well as local partners. They also understand the clan structure in Somalia, which is important if one wants to be successful in this humanitarian operation. They help us make crucial links with the government. For much of the time that he has been in Mogadishu, the city has been riven by a fluid frontline dividing the two sides β fighters belonging to the Islamist militant Al-Shabaab movement and troops belonging to the Transitional Federal Government TFG.
