Linda Polman: On Somalia: United Nations |
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Introduction:
To be precise for approximately 6 months ago I wrote an article titled:Political Ownership is it the Key to the Dispute Between Somalis and the International Community? My article explored and touched on the correlations between Aid and Politics among other issues.
I coincidently came accross this interview given by Linda Polman who is one of my favourite writers on development and the Aid Industry. This interview is packed with issues that I had highlighted in my previous article.
I coincidently came accross this interview given by Linda Polman who is one of my favourite writers on development and the Aid Industry. This interview is packed with issues that I had highlighted in my previous article.
Anyone who is concerned about the continuing, and pressing, problem of failures and corruption of the ” Aid Industry” will find here a throughly up- to- date interview and guide to all eveidence, debates and arguments.
Please note that I haven’t altered anything neither wording ,what I did was direct translation word for word. Opinions expressed in this interview are those of the author and do not necessarily represent me. Polman was being interviewed by a Danish Paper last month. Lean back and enjoy it.
Linda Polman: On Somalia: United Nations Assistance Nourishes the War
in Somalia: Interview
Who is Linda Polman?
Linda Polman (born in 1960) is a Dutch national; she is a trained journalist by profession from Utrecht School of Journalism, and her work includes radio documentaries and has written for Dutch and Belgian newspapers and magazines. She has traveled and lived in many parts of the world and in three years she traveled with UN troops to Somalia, Haiti and Rwanda. Her stay in Rwanda led to the book's "We Did Nothing: Why Does not the truth always come out when the UN goes in (1997, 2005)." "The Crisis Caravan - What's Wrong With Humanitarian Aid?" Was released in 2010 (in Britain under the title "War Games - The Story of Aid and War in Modern Times"). Linda Polman was Interviewed by Malthe Rasmussen in Denmark.
Somali businessmen sign contracts with the United Nations Food Program, WFP, to distribute several million tonne’s of food aid. Uncontrolled cartels are responsible for food aid: about half of WFP's assistance has been diverted, so they have along the way helped create the problems. WFP has fed a war in Somalia, which has created powerful military groups. "So says Linda Polman, journalist and author of" The Crisis Caravan "in a big interview with Reasoning Malthe Rasmussen. In "The Crisis Caravan", which appeared last year, Polman heavily criticized the international aid organizations. She says the reason being that : "We need to address the humanitarian dilemma, so that humanitarianism works for the victims affected. “But at the moment it seems the reverse is true.”
Malthe Rasmussen: You published last year the book "The Crisis Caravan" in which you criticized the international humanitarian organizations, as you compare them with commercial entities with the same conflicts of interest and cynicism. What are you basing this criticism on?
Linda Polman: My criticism is basically that humanitarian organizations are businesses and need to try to survive as businesses. They are in a constant humanitarian dilemma, which means that organizations need to take care of their own survival, until they help others. Since they have to protect both themselves and others, they are in a dilemma where they will if necessary put themselves above the sacrificial victims.continued
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