Features
Aid workers face taxing time in Somalia
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Apr 11, 2008 - 1:38:21 PM

Written by: Patrick Duplat

When I first travelled to Somalia three years ago, flying to the country required little logistical preparations (only faith in the pilot's abilities). Outside of Mogadishu, few cities had tarmac runways, and most landing strips amounted to little more than dirt tracks. Arriving from Kenya, the welcoming committee in Somalia consisted of camels and goats, rather than border guards. After all, this was a country with no central government, and therefore no border checks, visas or passport controls.

Today the airports have changed little, but non governmental organisations (NGOs) operating in South Central Somalia - already considerably constrained by security threats - have to face a bevy of bureaucratic hurdles.

In Nairobi, I was told I needed to apply for a visa at the Somali Embassy. A little intrigued, I paid the required $100 and hopped on the U.N. plane to a city on the coast just south of Mogadishu. Upon arrival, there was no one to check my passport. Only when I was about to leave a few days later was I asked to pay $25 for the benefit of the local authorities. On the way back to Nairobi, the plane refueled in Baidoa, a city in central Somalia and the temporary seat of the Transitional Federal Government (TFG). During the 15-minute stopover, a plain clothed government official asked for $20 from each passenger for landing fees. The precise reasoning behind these fees is mysterious, as all of these 'taxes' were being levied at airports that are maintained, and operated entirely by the United Nations. All passengers protested but to no avail.

Somalia is in the midst of its worst humanitarian crisis in the past two decades. The U.N. Refugee Agency estimates that there are more than 1 million people displaced inside the country, with hundreds of thousands more seeking refuge in neighboring countries. Insecurity is rampant, with even previously stable parts of the country like Puntland becoming no-go zones for international aid workers. In its recent report Somalia: Proceed with Caution, Refugees International calls for increased attention on the world's most neglected crisis - and warns that political progress is crucial to improving the humanitarian situation.

The TFG has not been able since its creation in 2004 to exert a strong presence in the country, despite international recognition and financial support. Its relationship with non-governmental organizations has been, up to now, ad hoc and redundant. For example, aid agencies have had to work with several different ministries, apply for multiple permits, as well as pay local and national fees. Roadblocks by TFG soldiers, among many others, have severely complicated the delivery of aid.

Beyond the bureaucratic hurdles, government forces have been repeatedly implicated in the harassment of humanitarian workers. A Somali aid staff told me: "When I drive from Mogadishu to the displacement camps just outside the city, the car keeps getting stopped by policemen. They took away my mobile phone three times".

Aid agencies have repeatedly asked for a point-person in the TFG to streamline procedures and clarify guidelines. While it's clear that all parties to the conflict try to take advantage in some ways of the presence of humanitarian actors, it's a particular discouraging sign to see governments hamper (unintentionally or not) humanitarian assistance.

Embassies, visas, taxes and airport duties should be seen as positive signs on the way to a country's development. They generate revenues and promote the country's interests. In Somalia however, the dysfunctional system underscores the government's fragile territorial hold and the fragmentation of power down to local interests.

Somalia faces immense hurdles in its quest for stability. Clearly, the focus of the government should be on gaining the trust of its people, rather than enforcing bureaucratic schemes which increase the opportunity for corruption and tax the very organizations which are trying to assist Somalis. Bureaucracy should not come before stability.