By Robert Kihara, UNICEF Somalia.
March 2000
Nine years after the fall of the Somali government in 1991, the situation in Somalia continues to fluctuate between instability in central/southern Somalia and remarkable strides in the north. And as world interest focuses on Ethiopia and the Horn of Africa and the spectre of famine again, an inner glimpse into Somalia reveals hope against great odds.
Baidoa, Central Somalia was the first stop. Here, the UN children's agency, UNICEF has an office that oversees activities in Central and Southern Somalia. During the last major famine in 1992, Baidoa was epicentre in which 200,000 people died. Most UN agencies left Baidoa in 1995 after the town was taken over by the late General Mohammed Farah Aideed and chaos ensued. UNICEF resumed operations in 1999 after calm returned.
In Baidoa , the UN agency is rebuilding water projects including the Isha Spring water source. It has also reconstructed a football stadium named after Dr Ayub Sheikh Yerow, a staffer killed in a banditry attack last September. The stadium keeps the youth busy and during an afternoon visit we met young boys kicking ball furiously. Outside the stadium, we encountered a young man who confidently told us of his dreams to be an educationist, professor and eventually President! Not bad for country where power is usually derived from the gun.
The next day we embarked on a three-hour drive to a town called Qansadhere where a supplementary feeding programme for children exists. The road from Baidoa to Qansadhere was previously mined. A stark reminder of this were the wrecks of a crane and truck on our route. Some 15 kilometres from Qansadhere, a stretch of dusty road serves as an airstrip. When planes have to bring people to Qansadhere, they use the road.
Our next destination was Bossaso, a port-town in Northeast Somalia 'Puntland'. Puntland' has declared autonomy, but does not seek to break away from Somalia. We toured the port and met some Kenyan seamen looking for work.
We later toured the Bossaso Water Project funded by the Netherlands government through UNICEF. 'It is the single largest infrastructure project undertaken in Somalia since the advent of civil war,' say the project manager, Douglas Booth and engineer Hashim Ahmed. It will cost $1.7 million to completion. The next day we travelled 205 kilometres to Iskushuban where another water project supplies water to the town. On the journey, mirages played havoc on our sight as dust trails from our two vehicles drew clouds as we traversed the semi-desert route to Iskushuban. The pools at Iskushuban are a sight to behold for a country associated with a dry landscape like Somalia. Water drips from fissures into the pool below.
On 16 March, we set off for Northwest Somalia ('Somaliland'), the final phase of our nine-day trip. 'Somaliland' was known as British 'Somaliland' during colonial times. Four days after its independence, it joined the then Italian 'Somaliland' to form Somalia. After the Somalia government collapsed, 'Somaliland' declared independence though it is yet to win international recognition.
After arrival in Hargeisa, the capital of 'Somaliland' we hit the road to Borama, a two-hour drive away on the border with Djibouti. One remarkable aspect of travel in 'Somalialand' is that unlike in other areas of Somalia, one does not require armed guards.
Borama hosts Amoud University. The president of the university, Professor Suleiman Gouled, was formerly Dean Faculty of Education at the Somali National University in Mogadishu Amoud University was founded in November 1998 and teaches education and business education. Currently it has 140 students with a small number among them female.
After a night at a small hotel in Boroma with satellite dish to boot - Somalia has some of the lowest satellite communication costs in the world - we headed to Berbera along the Gulf of Aden coast. Berbera is 'Somaliland's' largest income earner. It also handles exports and imports for neighbouring Ethiopia.
Back in Hargeisa the next day we toured the Edna Adan Maternity Hospital which is under construction. The hospital is the brainchild of Edna Adan, a one-time representative of WHO in Djibouti. Edna is a strict disciplinarian who outlaws fighting, chewing of khat and guns at the construction site. The site was an execution ground for Siad Barre's regime and later became a dumping site. Religious rites and prayers were offered prior to construction work at the site.
The hospital was a resounding finale to our swing through Somalia, ending at a place meant to safeguard the birth of life. No nurses have been trained in Somalia in the last 10 years and Edna intends to set up a training facility for nurses alongside the maternity hospital.
The complexities of the country abound, but beneath the myriad of problems painstaking gains have been made by Somalis in collaboration with the international community though the spectre of insecurity and elusive peace clouds the country. International agencies that have been in the country for the last decade have learnt to cope and, as worry over famine spreads in the Horn, their hope is that the moderate needs they need to keep the cautious momentum going, will be met.
For more information on UNICEF, visit its website at http://www.unicef.org