A map of the Sahel region showing where Al Qaeda operates (AFP/Graphic)
Posted on 06/03/2012 3:58:54 PM PDT by SunkenCiv
In a sprawl of plastic refugee shelters and mortar-blasted buildings in Mogadishu, a mud-caked Turkish engineering team monitors the drilling of a new borehole while their armed guards chat lazily under a tree, guns across laps.
These government contractors are on the frontline of a huge Turkish development effort in one of the world's most dangerous cities -- one which U.N. agencies and international charities prefer to deal with from the safety of neighbouring Kenya.
Across the Somali capital, a bombed-out shell after two decades of fighting, residents say Turkey has done more in eight months to shatter the perception that Mogadishu is a no-go zone than the international community has achieved in twenty years.
"Our government likes to help anyone in crisis so we came here without thinking anything," said the lead engineer, Mehmet, who asked Reuters to use a pseudonym because government employees are not authorised to talk to the media without permission.
The retreat of al Qaeda-linked rebels from the city in August ended the daily street battles and shelling between the militants and African troops, and offered a rare chance to ramp up aid as a famine gripped central and southern Somalia.
Some 500 Turkish relief workers and volunteers poured into Mogadishu's bullet-scarred wastelands, unleashing a wave of humanitarian aid as the militants struck back with a string of suicide bombings and roadside blasts.
"Of course it is dangerous but we don't think about those things. Inshallah, nothing has happened to us. If we are afraid, we can't operate," the engineer said.
Turkish flags -- white crescent moon and star on red background -- flutter in the coastal breeze and billboards marking out Turkish reconstruction projects dot the capital, where potholed streets are lined by rubble-strewn ruins and mountains of garbage.
(Excerpt) Read more at reuters.com ...
A map of the Sahel region showing where Al Qaeda operates (AFP/Graphic)
Happy Turkey Day. ;’)
Turkey urges aid organization’s to set up headquarters in Somalia
2 Jun 2, 2012 - 3:28:12 AM
In an effort to boost the quality of programs and policies in Somalia, Turkey requested UN and international aid organizations to set up permanent bases in Somalia, Garowe Online reports.
http://www.garoweonline.com/artman2/publish/Somalia_27/Turkey_urges_aid_organization_s_to_set_up_headquarters_in_Somalia.shtml
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