Document #1297660
IRB – Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada (Author)
Specific information on the above-mentioned
subject could not be found among the sources consulted by the DIRB.
However, in the early 1990s FINNIDA, the Finnish development
agency, and the Finnish Red Cross were running Forlani Hospital in
the Cabdul Casiis district of Mogadishu (Asante 1991, 28). This
hospital specialized in treating tuberculosis and psychiatric
patients (ibid.). In addition to the hospital, there were TB
outpatient clinics in Mogadishu prior to the civil war, but these
had ceased to operate by the time of an Inter-NGO Committee for
Somalia (INCS) assessment mission in Mogadishu in early 1991
(ibid., 62). A description of the hospital provided in the INCS
assessment report is attached to this Response.
The attached Associated Press report states
that the International Red Cross employed a Finnish doctor as part
of a "flying surgical team" in Somalia in 1993 (12 Jan. 1993).
According to AP, 30 per cent of Somalis had tuberculosis at that
time (ibid.). An official at the Canadian Red Cross Society in
Ottawa stated in a 30 July 1996 telephone interview that the Red
Cross had doctors in Somalia in 1993, but no information was
available about their work from the International Committee of the
Red Cross in Geneva.
This Response was prepared after
researching publicly accessible information currently available to
the DIRB within time constraints. This Response is not, and does
not purport to be, conclusive as to the merit of any particular
claim to refugee status or asylum. Please find below the list of
additional sources consulted in researching this Information
Request.
References
Asante, Kofi et al. 1991. A Report of
the Assessment Mission to Mogadishu, Hiran, Bay, Middle Shabelle
and Lower Shabelle Regions from February 23rd to March 4th 1991.
United Kingdom: Inter-NGO Committee for Somalia (INCS).
The Associated Press (AP). 12 January
1993. AM Cycle. Terry Leonard. "Flying Surgeons in Somalia Fear
Work May Go for Naught." (NEXIS)
Canadian Red Cross Society, Ottawa. 30
July 1996. Telephone interview with official.
Asante, Kofi et al. 1991. A Report of
the Assessment Mission to Mogadishu, Hiran, Bay, Middle Shabelle
and Lower Shabelle Regions from February 23rd to March 4th 1991.
United Kingdom: Inter-NGO Committee for Somalia (INCS), pp. 28,
62.
The Associated Press (AP). 12 January
1993. AM Cycle. Terry Leonard. "Flying Surgeons in Somalia Fear
Work May Go for Naught." (NEXIS)
The Somali Conflict: Prospects for
Peace. 1993. Oxfam.
Foreign diplomatic representatives in
Canada.
Note on contacting foreign diplomatic
representatives in Canada:
Embassies and high commissions are not
usually called for security-related questions such as location of
military bases or the functioning of secret services. Ability to
obtain information from diplomatic representatives depends on
availability of information and cooperation from individual
countries.