13/10/2011 - Ottawa, Ontario -- Troops occupying the SOS Hospital in the Somali capital for over five days have been urged not to use the facility or the adjacent Children’s Village as a military shield.
“This military occupation is costing lives,” stated SOS Children’s Villages Canada National Director Boyd McBride. “500 people who would otherwise receive medical care on a daily basis are dying on the streets, while troops guard empty beds.”
Fierce fighting occurred in the hospital grounds on Saturday and Sunday when the Somali Transitional Federal Government (TFG) supported by African Union (AU) troops took over the SOS Village compound; forcing all SOS staff to vacate the grounds – for the first time in the hospital’s 25-year history.
“The current occupation is unethical and unnecessary”, said Wilhelm Huber, the East Africa Director of SOS Children’s Villages. “A Children’s Village is for children, not soldiers. A hospital is a place to treat the sick, it is not a place to hide.” Huber has called on the military to hand back the SOS village and hospital compounds to the community to which they belong.
His sentiments were today echoed by the 54 senior medical staff who pleaded with various military leaders, cabinet ministers in the Somali Transitional Federal Government and officials at the UN to do everything in their power to address several critical issues that require urgent attention.
They also highlighted the basic humanitarian need to recover the body of their colleague Ali Shabye, who remains where he was killed on Monday morning. He died in the crossfire between TFG / AU troops and al-Shabab forces, as he reported for work after the forced evacuation of the entire SOS staff over the weekend. Friends have said that he returned to work in the belief that the area had been secured by TGF forces as relayed in radio reports.
The fate of a mentally disabled child who has been reported missing since the weekend is also of concern to SOS medical staff. They fear that he too may be a victim of the fighting.
The director of SOS Somalia Ahmed Mohamed Ibrahim has been assured by military personnel that the facilities have not been damaged since the shelling of the hospital’s pediatric pharmacy on Sunday. Mohamed emphasized the need for military restraint to ensure further collateral damage is avoided. He continues to press authorities and those in positions of influence everywhere of “the need to reopen the hospital immediately”.
Media Contact:
Graeme Burk g.burk@soschildrensvillages.ca
613-232-3309 x 20