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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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3 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?