Saturday, August 17, 2013
Foreign aid workers are increasingly becoming targets of corrupt
officials within the Somali government and the Islamist extremist group
Al-Shabaab.
"The government is laden with corrupt officials and allied clan
militias that are determined to use them [aid workers] for their own
interests," political analyst Hassan Abukar told IPS. "Kidnapping
foreign aid workers has become a way to extract cash from NGOs.
Al-Shabaab is mistrustful of the NGOs for fear of losing control in the
way aid is administered and [mistakenly believes] that these relief
agencies are spying on the terror group."
Abukar's comments come as international and independent aid
organisation Médecins Sans Frontières, or Doctors Without Borders (MSF),
announced this week that it was pulling out of Somalia after over two
decades of delivering aid and healthcare there. The murder and
harassment of their staff has made it increasingly impossible for the
organisation to operate, Dr. Unni Karunakara, MSF's international
president, told reporters at a press briefing in Kenya on Aug. 14. "With
the government unable to prevent attacks on themselves, attacks on aid
organisations and their workers are not unsurprising." -- Ahmed Soliman
from Chatham House
MSF, which was one of the very few providers of essential healthcare
in the Horn of Africa nation, has persevered to provide aid through a
civil war, in-fighting among local clans, and piracy. But it will
immediately stop all operations. MSF has been operating in the country
since 1991, and treated approximately 50,000 people a month.
"The final straw was the realisation that authorities, armed actors
and community leaders were actively supporting or tacitly approving the
attacks, the abductions, the killings against our staff," Karunakara
said.
Karunakara explained that in some cases, the actors MSF had
negotiated safe passage with had played a role in the abuse of MSF
staff, either through direct involvement or tacit approval. "Because of
their actions, hundreds of thousands of Somalis will now be effectively
cut off from medical humanitarian aid," said Karunakara.
In total, 16 MSF members have been killed, and MSF says they have
experienced dozens of attacks on their staff, ambulances, and medical
facilities since 1991.
MSF's departure from Somalia comes at a time when Somalia's
Transitional Federal Government is trying to change the country's image
after years of civil war and famine. Many analysts believe MSF's
departure will be a huge blow to recent efforts to bring foreign aid and
investment to the country.
"The departure of MSF shows the incapacity of
the new government to manage local security," Jabril Ibrahim Abdulle,
head of the Centre for Research and Dialogue in Mogadishu, told IPS.
"The MSF withdrawal also comes at a time when the Somali government
is trying to change the image of the country from a transitional to
permanent government and on the eve of Somalia's new deal conference to
be held in Brussels mid-September where world leaders are expected to
pledge millions of dollars to the new government."
MSF's departure shows that although the African Union Mission in
Somalia and an independent Ethiopian force have driven Al-Shabaab out of
the country's main cities, the extremist group is still able to
perpetrate wide-scale violence.
Analysts say there has been a notable change in Al-Shabaab's tactics
as they renew their assault on the capital. Several government
institutions and airports have been attacked or bombed and government
officials, district commissioners and civil servants have been
assassinated.
Recently, the extremist group attacked the Turkish embassy in
Mogadishu on Jul. 27, killing three people. And on Jun. 17, the United
Nations compound in the city was also attacked. Fifteen were killed in
the attack.
"In this context, with the government unable to prevent attacks on
themselves, attacks on aid organisations and their workers are not
unsurprising," Ahmed Soliman from Chatham House, an independent policy
institute based in London told IPS. "MSF would like civilian authorities
to take the conviction of those who perpetrate such acts of violence
more seriously. The government can certainly reinforce this message and
work towards this goal."
MSF is not the only organisation to withdraw staff. In recent weeks,
owing to the increase in violence, most international organisations have
withdrawn their non-essential staff from Somalia. While violence is
known to increase during Ramadan and abate afterwards, Abukar believes
that it is unlikely to reduce "because of the new dynamics of Al-Shabaab
factions that are killing each other for control of territories."
Evidence of Al-Shabaab's infighting and the defection of Al-Shabaab's
veteran militant Islamist, Sheikh Hassan Dahir Aweys in July, could be a
signal that more violence could be on the way.
Previously revered as a statesman for the
group, Aweys was forced to hand himself over to government forces,
giving power over to Afghan-trained leader Ahmed Abdi Godane.
Analysts expect that this will fuel more fighting, as this faction is
more hardline and determined to achieve an Islamic state. The faction
will also want to prove it remains a formidable force in light of the
defections.
"The emergence of tribal militias loyal to the federal government,
which are vying for power, the widespread of political assassinations
that are never prosecuted, and the increasing inability of the
government to expand its will and control beyond Mogadishu [means that
violence will not abate]," Abukar said.
"As the latest U.N. Monitoring Group report on Somalia has pointed
out, the Somali government cannot control a territory without
international support."
While Al-Shabaab fights within its ranks and MSF departs, with fears
that more NGO's may follow, the biggest concerns will be for the Somali
people who are now cut off from much-needed medical care.
"Unfortunately the Somali people will pay the highest cost. Much of
the Somali population has never known the country without war or famine.
Already receiving far less help than is needed, many will no longer
find the healthcare they require," said Karunakara. "In several places,
MSF has been effectively the only organisation providing quality medical
care."