I came across this CNN article

http://edition.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/af...ers/index.html
(CNN) -- Three aid workers have been shot over the last day in Somalia, two of them fatally, Somali media reports said.
Somalis prepare Monday to bury murdered Osman Ali Ahmed, the head of the U.N. Development Program.





The first fatality was a Somali, Mohamed Mohamud Qeyre. He was the deputy director of the group Daryeel Bulasho Guud (DBG), funded by a German company and affiliated with the group Bread for the World.
Qeyre was shot in the Somali capital of Mogadishu Friday night in what appeared to be a targeted attack, the reports said. He was shot by three gunmen outside the facility where aid distribution is coordinated. The gunmen may have been staking out the facility waiting for Qeyre to exit.
The head of DBG, in Nairobi, Kenya, said he will suspend all aid operations in Somalia for the time being.
The second fatality was a member of the Sodra nongovernmental organization, which is helping with humanitarian efforts in Somalia. Officials said it appears that Ali Baashi was also specifically targeted by gunmen.


Earlier this week, the World Food Program said a truck driver carrying its relief supplies was killed -- the fourth WFP driver killed in Somalia this year. Ahmed Saalim was shot when fighting broke out between convoy escorts and militiamen at a checkpoint, the U.N. aid agency said.
A growing percentage of the Somali population has become dependent on humanitarian aid. A severe famine swept the nation in 1991-1993, devastating crops, killing up to 280,000 people and displacing up to 2 million, according to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees.
The situation has been exacerbated by drought, continual armed conflicts in central and southern Somalia and high inflation on food and fuel.

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It really does make you wonder if any of this stuff makes a difference.

My father was with the first german soldiers who went into Somalia with the UN, it was the first mission abroad for german troops.
Hearing this i wonder if things can be changed... and if it mattered that my father was there... risking his life.

If it didn't make a difference over there, it makes a difference back home. You bring back lessons from the experience and your force becomes better from it. It will save lives later on. Yes, I'd say it mattered.

Originally Posted by the_13th_redneck

If it didn't make a difference over there, it makes a difference back home. You bring back lessons from the experience and your force becomes better from it. It will save lives later on. Yes, I'd say it mattered.

I am not going to disagree with you but I think over all it makes no difference what so ever, sending people in to build a nation when the people of that nation clearly are not on board with the program remains a complete waste of lives, money, time and resources.

I am of the opinion that all of the "stable" nations of this world are in this position because that is what the people themselves wanted not because someone showed up and dumped a ton of food on their doorstep.

Monty, I didn't say it made a difference in Somalia. I said it made a difference to the German Army.

Originally Posted by the_13th_redneck

Monty, I didn't say it made a difference in Somalia. I said it made a difference to the German Army.

And I agree it makes a difference from the participants perspective and I have no doubt that the people that receive help notice the difference as well I just question the effectiveness of the assistance programs as a whole.

Without unity and stability on the part of the country being helped, it is all useless.

The problem is the screwballs doing the unnecessary combat are screwing things up for those that do want a better life there at home. For those that want piece and are not killing folks, it's good for the UN to be there but if they leave, then it's back to the same misery they had before. The UN ought to not half ass missions like they love to do. If they aren't going to fight for whats right they shouldn't have gone in the first place. As usual, the UN looks pathetic and extremely weak.

When one's own survival isn't an issue, often missions are simply there to give the illusion of taking action.

Somalia is a terrible place to live and/or operate.

I´m partial to the saying "If you give a man a fish, he will eat for a day. If you teach him how to fish, he can eat every day."

That does however require them to stop killing eachother for the period of time it takes to learn how to fish...