Somalia: Aid Worker Killed by Stray Bullet

An aid worker and activist was accidentally killed when working to distribute food in Somalia's capitol, Mogadishu, on Friday. A United Nations official and others spoke on Monday of her great contribution to Somalia.

According to a press release issued by the United Nations on Monday, aid worker Madina Mohamud Elmi was accidentally struck by a bullet in crossfire while she was helping to provide humanitarian aid to fellow Somali people who have been displaced.

U.N. official Eric Laroche, the Humanitarian Coordinator for Somalia, referred to her strong commitment to promoting peace, helping groups of people who were in danger, and bringing about the reform of armed militia groups. He also referred to the conditions faced by aid workers in Somalia, saying that it is among the countries where such workers face the greatest danger and receive the least protection.

The IRIN news agency, a division of the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, reported on Monday that Madina Mohamud Elmi was badly injured by the bullet when it hit her on Thursday, and she died on Friday at a hospital.

She was a mother of nine children and had worked for many years to encourage a peaceful end to the nation's long civil war, while providing aid to refugees from different parts of the country. IRIN quoted a Mogadishu journalist as saying that Ilmi wasn't afraid of the danger she faced as an aid worker in Somalia, and helping others was what she enjoyed most.

Somalia has much need for humanitarian aid, partially because of the conflict which occurs there; according to the World Health Organization's page about Somalia, the country's average life expectancy is only forty-five years, and about 225 children out of each 1,000 die before reaching the age of five. The average "healthy life expectancy" in Somalia is thirty-six years for men and thirty-eight for women.

According to wikipedia.org's entry on the East African nation of Somalia, it has approximately nine million people and borders Kenya, Ethiopia, and Djibouti. It became independent in 1960. Somalia's central government only has control over some parts of the nation's territory. Various separate local authorities and other groups control different parts of the country. It has a per-capita GDP (Gross Domestic Product) of $600, one of the lowest in the world. Somalia was hit by heavy rainfall and flooding last year.

Sources:
1. United Nations, http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=24708
2. IRIN, http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=75379
3. Wikipedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Somalia
4. WHO, http://www.who.int/countries/som/en/