Failure of the United Nations in Somalia
by Aweis Issa

Recently I traveled to New York City, and part of the reason for my trip was to visit the UN Headquarters located there with the hope of meeting one of their officials to discus some concerns I have about the work going on in Somalia. When I went to the UN building, I witnessed a massive security presence and unfortunately there was no way to talk to UN employees without a scheduled appointment. Having recently been home to Africa, specifically Somalia, I noticed there as well that a large contingent of security personnel were being employed to protect the UN buildings in Mogadishu from perceived enemies, such that the average person cannot approach; but these observations conflicted with my understanding that the UN is ideally supposed to be an institution which welcomed people and their concerns, especially those in war-torn societies like my own home country of Somalia. It truly made me wonder whether the UN is trying to protect themselves or perhaps just keeping everyone else away. Again, for an organization which styles itself a servant of oppressed people, they seem to have difficulty actually being near those people.

The official UN Office for Somalia is located in Nairobi, Kenya, and the UN experts fly from Nairobi to Somalia almost every day, and fly back to Nairobi in the evening. Yet most of the UN projects in Somalia, especially the Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO), have not produced successful outcomes for Somalia. I say this because I have direct experience in Somalia, as I was born and raised in the country. I was employed by the Agricultural Research Institute based in Afgoi after I graduated from university in Somalia. Afgoi is south of Mogadishu.

Somalia has a great deal of agricultural land, especially in the river areas of the country, which is the "bread basket" of Somalia. Somali farmers are not currently utilizing the agricultural land to its potential because the nomads have pushed the farmers off their land. The Somali nomads are using Shari'a law to usurp authority over lands which belonged to farming families. The displaced families are now day labourers on their own farms. And yet despite all the flights, the expense accounts, and the fabulous indulgences of these so-called "international civil servants," the UN and its officials have not protected these farming families in Somali from such abuses.

The UN Headquarters in New York City is a lovely building in a magnificent city, and perhaps somewhere in the bowels of that cloistered enclave there are people actually doing something to help the oppressed peoples of the world. With all the trillions of dollars thrown at the UN each year, we all hope this organization is doing more than hosting black-tie wine and cheese parties. Yet as mentioned, there are people in Africa who could really use the power and resources which the UN obviously represents, and the average Somalis are desperate for tangible and comprehensive assistance from the UN, but thus far, very little has been accomplished.

The West has a little hobby-horse of a saying in, "Fiat justitia ruat caelum" (let justice be done though the heavens fall). Somalis aren't interested in the heavens anymore, they simply want justice. Whether the UN will have a part in this delivery of justice is yet to be seen.