Over the next few months, I’ll be using this blog to share with you a little of my life and work here in Mogadishu.
This week I’ve been struck by the variety of my work. It won’t be a surprise to hear that we’ve been working hard on security and governance issues. They are staples of life in Mogadishu with the forthcoming elections, stability and security being the top of the agenda.
In the last few days I have met Deputy Prime Minister Arte, the Chair of the Federal Indirect Electoral Implementation Team (FIEIT), opposition groups, international diplomats (including SRSG Michael Keating, the new US Ambassador to Somalia Steven Schwartz and the visiting EU Special Representative to the Horn). I’ve also had high-level conversations about Somaliland’s elections (it isn’t all about Mogadishu!), and even had to spend time the Embassy’s maintenance (not an easy job with the punishing combination of sea air, sun and coral dust). But amidst a this melange of issues, the highlight has been hosting a reception for some of the organisers and authors of the Mogadishu Book Fair, and the book launch of Andrew Harding’s ‘The Mayor of Mogadishu.’
Last year the Somalia Stability Fund, to which the UK is the largest contributor, gave a small grant to help kick start the first Mogadishu Book Fair. I was amazed and touched by the images of young people queuing around the corner waiting to get in. This year the Book Fair was even bigger with thousands visiting each day, and over $20,000 worth of books sold. That is the Somalia that we are all working to support – one of aspiration and culture where people risk their lives for literature. And where a love of culture removes clan divisions. I love the well-established Hargiesa Book Fair (which we’ve also supported) and the vibrancy you see there. And now there is a Garowe Fair and rumours of others next year. It is wonderful, and it is the Somalia I like to talk about when I go back to the UK and people ask me “What is Somalia like?”
I also want this site to be somewhere where members of my team can give you a bit of a sense of what they do on a day to day basis, and how they find life in Mogadishu. The first piece is a personal view on the work we’re doing on security. Please give us your feedback and tell us if you think pieces are hitting the right note – we want this platform to give you the information you want to know.