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    January 20, 2012

UN, AU Troops Protect Mogadishu Aid Workers

   Cathy Majtenyi | Mogadishu
   United Nations personnel look on as a worker serves food at a camp in
   Hodan district in Mogadishu, January 19, 2012
   Photo: Reuters
   United Nations personnel look on as a worker serves food at a camp in
   Hodan district in Mogadishu, January 19, 2012

   Somalia's capital, Mogadishu, is said to be among the most dangerous
   places in the world, mainly because of the multitude of unpredictable
   and deadly attacks by the militant Islamic group al-Shabab. Yet,
   national and international aid workers continue to provide badly-needed
   help among the traumatized population, with the assistance of security
   officers from the United Nations and African Union.
   Today's mission is to take a group of journalists to various sites
   within Somalia's beleaguered capital. It is a tour designed to show
   first-hand the deplorable living conditions of those who fled drought,
   famine, and al-Shabab.
   United Nations' field security coordinating officer Jotame Misivono
   knows that anything can happen at any time. Within the past week,
   several roadside bombs have gone off on Mogadishu's streets and almost
   a dozen armed clashes took place. Just yesterday, the mayor's deputy
   assistant's car was blown up by an IED, or improvised explosive device,
   that was planted inside his car.
   Misivono's job is to transport United Nations staff in armored vehicles
   called 'caspers' as they carry out their humanitarian work. He says
   anticipating possible insurgent attacks - and taking measures to
   prevent being targeted - is a challenge, but needs to be done because,
   as he says, 'people need to be fed and supported.'
   'It's normal to a human being's reaction, that you have fear. But as a
   professional, you have to control your fear, taking into consideration
   that the life of the staff members are in your hands,' said Misivono.
   For Gwendoline Mensah, head of the United Nations refugee agency in
   Mogadishu, Misivono and his colleagues are a godsend, as is the African
   Union mission, known as AMISOM.
   'Whenever we go outside of the U.N. compound, then we go, as we did
   today, in the caspers," said Mensah. "You have the highly professional
   AMISOM soldiers who are protecting you. Of course, they cannot mitigate
   against every possible threat, but you do feel confident that, if
   something should happen, they will be on hand.'

   A Ugandan peacekeeper from the African Union Mission in Somalia
   (AMISOM) assists his wounded colleague after an encounter with Islamist
   militia in the northern suburbs of Somalia's capital Mogadishu, January
   20, 2012

Reuters

   A Ugandan peacekeeper from the African Union Mission in Somalia
   (AMISOM) assists his wounded colleague after an encounter with Islamist
   militia in the northern suburbs of Somalia's capital Mogadishu, January
   20, 2012

   AMISOM is comprised of troops from Uganda, Burundi, and Kenya. AMISOM's
   stated aim is to, among other things, stabilize the capital to make it
   safe for humanitarian workers to operate.
   Captain Ronald Kakurugu takes comfort in the fact that he and his
   colleagues are trained to physically and psychologically prepare for,
   and deal with, anything that could happen at any moment. He describes
   what happened after he was injured when insurgents fired a bomb as the
   troops were securing part of Mogadishu.
   'Fortunately, we have a very swift medical team - we have several
   medical teams. Casualty evacuation is very fast," said Kakurugu. "First
   aid itself is done very quickly, and evacuation to the hospital is also
   very fast. So all that was done and in the space of about 15 minutes I
   was under very good care, and I recovered after a few weeks.'
   In the bustling compound of the Somali Rehabilitation and Development
   Agency, or SORDA, hundreds of mostly women and children receive food
   rations and health care. Nurse Khadra Suleyman is giving a young mother
   medicine for her sick baby.
   Suleyman has had at least one close call on the streets of Mogadishu,
   being injured by a stray bullet when thugs shot a man while robbing
   him.
   Al-Shabab killed Suleyman's husband three years ago - she says she is
   both mother and father to her eight children. Love and care for her
   children keep her going back to the workplace day after day despite the
   risks. Her big worry is who will care for her children if she dies.
   But, speaking through a translator, she says she has found strength and
   a certain level of peace.
   'I pray to Allah and I feel that I will not be in trouble since I am
   helping people," said Suleyman. "But thanks to Allah, since I have been
   working here, I have never encountered a problem.'
   The safety of national and international aid workers is a growing
   problem within Mogadishu and across the country. Doctors Without
   Borders this week announced that they would cease operations in a
   section of the capital following the killings of two of its workers.
   Last November, al-Shabab banned 16 international aid agencies from
   operating in the territories it controls. The militant group accused
   the agencies of spying on them on behalf of western entities.
   A season of rains has eased the drought that helped drive parts of
   southern Somalia into famine last year. But the situation in the
   country remains dire. According to U.N. figures released in December,
   250,000 people in Somalia face imminent starvation, 450,000 children
   are acutely malnourished, and 3.7 million people all across the country
   are in need of primary or basic secondary health care services.