Change on the horizon

Concern chief executive Tom Arnold writes from Somalia exactly one year on from the famine that struck the country and wider region, and finds a country that has been rejuvenated

THE images of life and death in Mogadishu one year ago were still vivid and raw. On Jul 21, 2011, one day after the UN had declared a famine in parts of South and Central Somalia, Frances O’Keeffe, chair of the Concern Council, Jim Fahy and Kieran McConville of RTÉ, and I went into Mogadishu. We saw the human consequences of the famine: Nutrition centres where over 80% of children were severely malnourished, and swelling camps catering for the flood of people who had deserted their villages because there was no food.

We were confronted with the consequences of the political instability and violence racking Somalia: Guns everywhere and major travel restrictions because of security concerns.