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YOUR TURN TO ASK: Mark Bowden, UN humanitarian chief for Somalia
Written by: AlertNet
Somalia is facing its worst drought in 20 years. REUTERS/file photo
Somalia's seemingly endless crises in the past two decades - anarchy, warlords, refugees, chronic poverty, hunger, piracy, proxy wars and now rising Islamic extremism - seem to have made the world grow numb to its plight. But the Horn of Africa country is now suffering one of the most desparate humanitarian crises in the world. Its worst drought in nearly 20 years has compounded the effects of rising violence and driven half the population, or 3.5 million people, into food aid dependence. Access to those in need has become almost impossible because of security problems as Islamic rebels fight to oust the transitional government and relief workers have been killed and kidnapped. Yet only a small proportion of aid pledges have been honoured. Access to health services is particularly poor. And an African Union peacekeeping mission is ill-equipped to protect civilians from violent rebel attacks. Mark Bowden, the United Nations Humanitarian Coordinator for Somalia, is ready to take your questions on how the situation is developing. You can participate by using the comments section below or by using the #askmarkbowden tag on Twitter. Our East Africa correspondent Frank Nyakairu will get as many of your questions to Bowden as possible, and we'll be publishing his replies on AlertNet next week, so keep checking back! New to Twitter? If you aren't using Twitter already but want to post a question or see what other people are asking Bowden through Twitter, just get yourself a Twitter account, search for the #askmarkbowden tag and view all questions. You can post a 140-character question yourself, making sure to use the #askmarkbowden tag somewhere in your post so it sits with all the other posts from people across the Twittersphere.
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10 responses to “YOUR TURN TO ASK: Mark Bowden, UN humanitarian chief for Somalia”
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29 Sep 2009 16:47:17 GMT
How do you suggest that the humanitarian aide workers responding to the crisis in Somalia will be protected from kidnap, attack or murder?
30 Sep 2009 14:07:54 GMT
With parties to the conflict confusing the "humanitarian" and the "political" bodies of the UN, how do you not justify separating your current position of both Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator for Somalia (as is done in many other countries)?
30 Sep 2009 16:24:40 GMT
Dear Bowden, many people can argue that your humanitarian office and other political office of the UN are intertwined, if the UNPOS fails in Somalia also yours will folow suit and you will leave many people in dire need of your help. Therefore, are you planning to separate your office from political one and act as independant to respond to humanitarian only when and where needed?
05 Oct 2009 16:52:10 GMT
How do you reconcile the specific targeting of UNPOS, UNDP and UNDSS (as opposed to humanitarian agencies) by Al Shabab with the UN's push for a more integrated mission? Can you come out publicly against the SRSG's desire to see a "green zone" in Mogadishu?
Thank you-05 Oct 2009 16:55:17 GMT
In your opinion, witch one of these two - United States or UIC (Union of Islamic Courts) - contributed most for the unfortunate present situation?
05 Oct 2009 16:55:43 GMT
Yesterday, a Spanish ship as been captured by the so called "pirates". This ship was ilegally fishing on Somalian waters.
Don+//3//Q-t you think the media should report more about these - very frequent since the early 90+//3//Q-s - ilegal actions taken from lots of European countries and fishermans? And how that might help us understan the feeling and actions of some of these so called "pirates". How do you fell about this subject?06 Oct 2009 15:50:29 GMT
To what extent do you feel does the sheer magnitude of the humanitarian aid operation in Somalia contribute to the conflict, for example due to the profitability of attacking food convoys or diverting food aid? How can such dynamics be neutralized? Thanks!
08 Oct 2009 10:28:26 GMT
The point about fishing and the Spanish ship is well made. In Spain it is hard not to notice the diversity of the fish catch, available in incredible amounts in nearly all supermarkets. If you ask where it has come from, most Spanish have no idea - and one frankly gets the idea that they have not even considered it. I know from my work, because I have seen this in many countries, that Spain has one of the world's most aggressive fishing fleets and their ships can be found fishing in many places with major consequences for locals - but usually with the "blessing" of corrupt elites, who have doubtless been paid off - take off-shore Angola for example! It is high time we deal with this phenomena, or we will see whole species disappear and the livilihoods of those small-scale fishing communities which depend on them.
12 Oct 2009 06:51:41 GMT
How can you justify the expense of having such a large presence with various UN departments sat in Nairobi ?? that are supposed to be working in Somalia ?
Security is a poor excuse !! as you have the finances and resources to ensure your staff are secure .... Instead of wasting that money sat in Nairobi playing at being the humanitarian helpers !! You are very quick to sub contract to persons who are not UN and allow them to work in Mogadishu, so are you saying there lives are worth less than a UN member of staff !!! Stop talking about helping somalia and actually physically get a presence there on the ground so you can truly assist and help !!! Or is it that you are enjoying the Nairobi Lifestyle and benefits too much...Typical UN staff ... they are only out for themselves and will make any excuse too not actually achieve what they are supposed too !!13 Oct 2009 11:39:45 GMT
so what happened with this? where can we see the q&a?