UK Somalia top aid chief visits Baidoa, shocked by destruction

“I want to tell Somalis to keep talking to each other. Somalis need a political settlement with each other because no amount of international assistance can make that happen. Somalis need to make that happen for themselves,” DFID Somalia boss Joanna Reid said with a grin, before boarding her special flight back to the Somalia capital, Mogadishu.

Baidoa – Somalia: Joanna Reid, the United Kingdom Department of Foreign and International Development (DFID) Somalia chief visited Baidoa for the first time to check out progress and impact of DFID’s work locally implemented by various humanitarian organizations aimed at empowering the local community to be self-sufficient in the ongoing international efforts to stabilize Somalia.
During her short visit, Madam Joanna toured the Baidoa police station, where UK tax payer’s money is helping to renovate the dilapidated police station and since all the offices are under renovation she had to be briefed under a tree by the policemen.
She also met with a team of Somali mine experts under Mine Action who defuse and detonate bombs and other Improvised explosives devices (IEDs) and had the opportunity to detonate a small bomb under the supervision of the Somali mine experts, the bomb she detonated was among dozens of others planted by suspected Al-Shabaab militants in Baidoa which have been safely recovered and are in the process of being defused.
“I find it encouraging hearing that people are saying now it is time for change in Somalia and that they have got some stability. People say now they want some development, they want to do something with that and that is very important and it is not seen as humanitarian assistance it is really development,” She said.
Joanna and her delegation comprising of DFID staffs in Somalia later visited the Baidoa central jail that is also in a very bad shape with leaking roofs and congested rooms for inmates. The jail is in the pipeline to benefit from the UK aid managed and implemented by the United Nations Development Program (UNDP).
She later met with local Somali leaders and various representatives of humanitarian agencies implementing DFID programs in Baidoa to hear about the progress of the work, challenges faced by the implementers and more importantly what could be done differently to help improve the pathetic situation of Somalis.
“What we were saying to the governor is that it is not just sticking pasta, feeding people, we can now move on from that but you need the political will and you need stability and so if you have got that then I think we can see some development in Somalia,” Joanna said.
BROKEN BAIDOA
Baidoa governor Abdi Adan Hosow praised the UK government for its support to Somalia and in particular Baidoa. He said DFID programs are helping locals with much need skills and entrepreneurial skills to quickly settle from years of conflict and displacement.
“Baidoa town is so glad to host the DFID Somalia chief and her staff. We wish to greatly thank the people of the UK and their government for the much needed support in to our people. Your money is helping families cope with years of conflict and displacement and it is also imparting life skills to youths and women many of who would otherwise be languishing in poverty or in utter hopelessness,” Governor Hosow told the UK delegation. The governor is himself a Somali British diaspora returnee from London.
The little Joanna and her team saw of Baidoa simply shocked her. She was however full of praise to the African Union peacekeepers in Somalia, AMISOM, saying that they are vital in making peace happen which in the long term would help in the development of Somalia.
“Baidoa is very broken. I did not see a single building that was intact and so I think that in itself it is quite shocking and I think we need to remember just how fragile and how much people have been through here and what they have suffered and they deserve a better future, they really do,” She added.
Asked what message she had for Somalis, Joanna Reid posed, before carefully picking her words.
“I want to tell Somalis to keep talking to each other. Somalis need a political settlement with each other because no amount of international assistance can make that happen. Somalis need to make that happen for themselves,” DFID Somalia boss Joanna Reid said with a grin, before boarding her special flight back to the Somalia capital, Mogadishu.

Somalia returns Black Hawk Down remains to the US.

“America is Somalia’s biggest supporter and one of our closest allies. The American government has recognized the Federal Government of Somalia and is actually helping to train our forces and is also at the forefront in helping to reconstruct back Somalia. We have nothing to give them back and the least we could do is hand over the remains of the chopper to the government,” Prime Minister Shirdon said.

Mogadishu – Sometimes in September this year, Somalia allowed an American war museum to have the remains of a US fighter chopper brought down 20 years ago by clan militias in Mogadishu during the disastrous 1993 United Nations International Somalia Mission (UNISOM) vividly captured by the famous Hollywood movie Black Hawk Down.
The remains – which have been collecting dust at a Mogadishu backyard near the famous Bakara market – was donated to the Special Operations War Museum in Fort Bragg, USA, bringing to a close one of Somalia’s most written about story of its violent past about the bringing down of the US fighter chopper Black Hawk in Mogadishu on October 3, 1993 during the onset of the civil war in Somalia.
Prime Minister Abdi Farah Shirdon said Somalia currently enjoys a cordial working relationship with the US government and that out of the American goodwill shown to the Somali people and his government in these tough economic times, Somalia decided to hand over the remains of the American chopper to a war museum in order to give the American public an opportunity to view the remains.
“America is Somalia’s biggest supporter and one of our closest allies. The American government has recognized the Federal Government of Somalia and is actually helping to train our forces and is also at the forefront in helping to reconstruct back Somalia. We have nothing to give them back and the least we could do is hand over the remains of the chopper to the government,” Prime Minister Shirdon said.
The remains were shipped from Mogadishu in July with the help of an American private security firm belonging to an American couple living in Mogadishu whose philanthropic action is likely to improve relations between US and Somalia.
AMISOM peacekeepers in Somali also took part in the historic event by crucially safeguarding the Black Hawk Down remains at the Mogadishu seaport during its shipment.
Speaking from the US city of Minnesota in Minneapolis where he is attending a Somalia Diaspora consultative meeting organized by AMISOM, Ambassador Mahamat Saleh Annadif, the Special Representative of the Chairperson of the African Union Commission and head of AMISOM hailed Somalia for its thoughtful decision to hand over the remains to the US government.
“Somalia is slowly recovering from its dark past and I am so pleased to see such a rare benevolent act from the Somalis to return the remains of the Black Hawk Down to its rightful owners, the American people. We hope that this will finally rest the sad events that transpired during that dark history of Somalia and instead usher in a peaceful era in Somalia. AMISOM is ready to stand with the Somalis in their quest to a peaceful and prosperous Somalia,” Ambassador Annadif said.
America’s most watched CBS television series 60 minutes, documented the story behind the shipment of the Black Hawk Down remains from Somalia to the US and aired it days before and after the October 3, 20th anniversary of the Black Hawk Down incident.
The latest gesture from the Somalis is likely to help its cause of seeking more support for their fledgling government that needs massive support as it struggles to battle out the Al-Qaeda affiliated Al-Shabaab militants who are out to destabilize the country which slowly healing from the effects of one of Africa’s longest civilian conflicts.
Ordinary Americans working in Mogadishu welcomed the move.
“This brings to a close the Black Hawk Down saga and opens a new door of friendship between Somalia and America. The Somali gesture will help with the healing process and acceptance by family members who lost their beloved ones in Somalia when the chopper was brought down. We can only say thank you so much to the Somali people for their thoughtful gesture, I hope my fellow Americans will laud this rare gesture from the Somalis,” said a lady US expatriate working in Somalia who did not wish to be named.

AMISOM trains first ever professional Somalia firefighters

“It means a lot for 20 young people to receive such an important training and to go back home to transfer the knowledge to others, it is so beneficial for the country. The benefit is that we have come from a point where we did not have these skills we have acquired and we have had challenges, but now we have the technical know-how to counter fire disasters,” Mohamed Abdullahi, the groups team leader added.

The AMISOM United Nations Trust Fund has helped train the first ever professional Somalia firefighters outside the Horn of African country after 20 young members of the Somalia Emergency and Rescue Team took part in a two week long high level training in Kenya as part of the ongoing efforts to restore peace and stability in war-ravaged Somalia.
Just like other national institutions, the Somalia Fire and Emergency Rescue Unit premises and equipment’s in Mogadishu were looted and property destroyed by unknown assailants during the last 20 years of civil unrest in Somalia.
With the help of the Somalia government, international partners and AMISOM, the unit is slowly being resuscitated by giving them the necessary expertise and tools they require to prevent fire and respond to any other emergency disasters.
The training in Nairobi was overseen by experienced fire fighters from the Kenya Airports Authority (KAA) with class-based theory lessons as well as practical fire-fighting techniques on how to attack airport fire which was held at an open field in the busy Jomo Kenya International Airport as planes landed and flew away during the fire drill.
“Airport Fire Fighting is a bit advanced, it is more technical because you have to deal with an aircraft with passengers on board and there is a lot of fuel and it is moving. So when it touches down, they you expect a lot of problems. And the fire is abrupt, it builds up very fast and people can inhale toxic gasses from within or even hot air,” Francis Ndeleva, one of the KAA Fire and Rescue Instructors said.
MOGADISHU CAN SLEEP IN PEACE
Talking of hot air and toxic fumes, some of the Somali trainees experienced near fatal incident in the last fire they tried to put off in Mogadishu in September last year prior to getting any training after several firefighters became unconscious from inhaling toxic form they were using to extinguish a fire caused by burning fuel at a petrol station.
At the time, they said they were not aware inhaling form was toxic.
But now that they have been equipped with the necessary knowledge and hopefully with the right gear, they are ready to face off any challenges and a raring to go.
“Several of our colleagues collapsed last year when we were still new to this risky but crucial job of being a firefighter. We are so glad to AMISOM, our government and the UN for sending us for the first ever training outside Somalia. We are happy to return home with a new set of skills and the public in Mogadishu can now peacefully sleep since we are ready to save their lives anytime,” Mohamed Sahal, Co-ordinator of the Somalia Emergency Rescue and Fire Fighters said after safely landing back home.
During their hands-on training in Nairobi, the trainers chose a perfect spot at the airport for the young Somali fire fighter next to a rusty but symbolic former Somalia air force military plane used by former Somalia President Mohamed Siyad Bare to flee the civil war in Somalia in early 1991.
As if the presence of their former plane gave them a gusto to do even better, the young Somali trainers extinguished a fire lit for them as part of training and showed their first aid techniques they have learnt by attending to dummies and some of their colleagues mimicking victims strategically placed inside and outside the rusty Somalia military cargo plane.
“It means a lot for 20 young people to receive such an important training and to go back home to transfer the knowledge to others, it is so beneficial for the country. The benefit is that we have come from a point where we did not have these skills we have acquired and we have had challenges, but now we have the technical know-how to counter fire disasters,” Mohamed Abdullahi, the groups team leader added.