• News
    • Latest news
    • News search
    • Health
    • Finance
    • Food
    • Career news
    • Content series
    • Try Devex Pro
  • Jobs
    • Job search
    • Post a job
    • Employer search
    • CV Writing
    • Upcoming career events
    • Try Career Account
  • Funding
    • Funding search
    • Funding news
  • Talent
    • Candidate search
    • Devex Talent Solutions
  • Events
    • Upcoming and past events
    • Partner on an event
  • Post a job
  • About
      • About us
      • Membership
      • Newsletters
      • Advertising partnerships
      • Devex Talent Solutions
      • Contact us
Join DevexSign in
Join DevexSign in

News

  • Latest news
  • News search
  • Health
  • Finance
  • Food
  • Career news
  • Content series
  • Try Devex Pro

Jobs

  • Job search
  • Post a job
  • Employer search
  • CV Writing
  • Upcoming career events
  • Try Career Account

Funding

  • Funding search
  • Funding news

Talent

  • Candidate search
  • Devex Talent Solutions

Events

  • Upcoming and past events
  • Partner on an event
Post a job

About

  • About us
  • Membership
  • Newsletters
  • Advertising partnerships
  • Devex Talent Solutions
  • Contact us
  • My Devex
  • Update my profile % complete
  • Account & privacy settings
  • My saved jobs
  • Manage newsletters
  • Support
  • Sign out
Latest newsNews searchHealthFinanceFoodCareer newsContent seriesTry Devex Pro
    • News
    • In the news: Somalia

    In Somalia, FAO worker’s death spells trouble

    A U.N. employee was killed in a targeted attack in southern Somalia — a setback in the international campaign to deliver aid to the famished region controlled by al-Shabab militants.

    By Jennifer Brookland // 29 August 2012

    A 32-year-old Somali employee of the Food and Agriculture Organization was killed Monday, Aug. 27, by an armed group in southern Somalia. The show of violence does not bode well for humanitarian groups who have returned to the country after their banishment last summer by al-Shabab left millions without famine relief.

    FAO Director-General José Graziano da Silva called the attack in Merka “extremely violent and targeted.”

    No additional information was released about Yassin Mohamed Hassan’s death. Somali news site Mareeg reported on the same day that Somali and African Union troops pushed “al-Qaida-affiliated groups” out of Merka, leading some to speculate Hassan was caught up in the fighting.

    Merka is located 90 kilometers south of Mogadishu, and has been under extremist rule since November 2008, according to the news site.

    FAO scaled up its operations in southern Somalia after famine was declared there in July 2011, and now has more than 100 staff members across the country. It is one of just a few agencies operating in some southern areas.

    Hassan was part of an FAO project overseeing irrigation infrastructure rehabilitation in the area. FAO has been giving out seeds, irrigation technology and water pumps, but fighting has made it hard for supplies to be delivered in time to be helpful, Al Jazeera reports.

    Al-Shabab prevented food aid from reaching areas under its control during last summer’s drought in the Horn of Africa, and the militant network expelled 16 aid organizations and several U.N. agencies, including the World Food Program. The group demanded last year that destitute farmers “depend on God” instead of accepting food aid from “infidels” at foreign relief agencies, according to Voice of America.

    The International Committee of the Red Cross was one of the last organizations allowed to distribute aid at the time, but it too was forced by al-Shabab to close its operations in January 2012.

    Al-Shabab was reportedly pushed out of Mogadishu in August 2011, and since then almost 63,000 — internally displaced people, mostly — have returned to the city, according to the U.N. Integrated Regional Information Networks. Aid groups returned as well, but swathes of the south are still under militant control.

    The withdrawal did not prevent targeted violence, either. Assassinations and bomb blasts continue in Mogadishu. Twenty humanitarian workers have been killed in Somalia since August 2011, according to the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. At least 27 major attacks directed at aid workers occurred between 2009 and 2010, making Somalia one of the most dangerous countries to be a humanitarian worker.

    More than 1.6 million Somalis are currently receiving food assistance, and even more require clean water. If fighting escalates in southern Somalia, humanitarian gains could be reversed and access for international aid groups might again be limited.

    Read more development aid news online, and subscribe to The Development Newswire to receive top international development headlines from the world’s leading donors, news sources and opinion leaders — emailed to you FREE every business day.

    • Humanitarian Aid
    Printing articles to share with others is a breach of our terms and conditions and copyright policy. Please use the sharing options on the left side of the article. Devex Pro members may share up to 10 articles per month using the Pro share tool ( ).

    About the author

    • Jennifer Brookland

      Jennifer Brookland

      Jennifer Brookland is a former Devex global development reporter based in Washington, D.C. She has worked as a humanitarian reporter for the United Nations and as an investigative journalist for News21. Jennifer holds a bachelor's in foreign service from Georgetown University and a master's in journalism from Columbia University and in international law and diplomacy from the Fletcher School. She also served for four years as an Air Force officer.

    Search for articles

    Most Read

    • 1
      How to use law to strengthen public health advocacy
    • 2
      Closing the loop: Transforming waste into valuable resources
    • 3
      House cuts US global education funding 20%, spares multilateral partners
    • 4
      Lasting nutrition and food security needs new funding — and new systems
    • 5
      Opinion: The pursuit of remission — from possibility to priority
    • News
    • Jobs
    • Funding
    • Talent
    • Events

    Devex is the media platform for the global development community.

    A social enterprise, we connect and inform over 1.3 million development, health, humanitarian, and sustainability professionals through news, business intelligence, and funding & career opportunities so you can do more good for more people. We invite you to join us.

    • About us
    • Membership
    • Newsletters
    • Advertising partnerships
    • Devex Talent Solutions
    • Post a job
    • Careers at Devex
    • Contact us
    © Copyright 2000 - 2025 Devex|User Agreement|Privacy Statement