The ICRC concentrates its operational presence where armed clashes are recurrent and essential services are inexistent. Through a large spectrum of activities in health, economic security, water and rehabilitation targeted primarily at the rural population, the ICRC actively responds to the complex emergency situations through a network of experienced and qualified national staff, and through its partnership with the Somali Red Crescent Society (SRCS). It provides emergency relief materials, supports emergency surgical services that care for those injured by weapons, restores the basic infrastructure in weakened communities and supports the SRCS in its delivery of services.

The ICRC supports the two surgical referral hospitals in Mogadishu, namely Medina and Keysaney. Since August 2007, an ICRC-backed team of surgeons from the Qatar Red Crescent Society has been working at Keysaney Hospital, which is managed by the Somali Red Crescent Society.

In 2007, the two hospitals treated more than 4,000 people who had been wounded in the conflict – twice the number of war-wounded admitted to the two hospitals in 2006. One third of these were women and children under 15 years of age.

The ICRC has been present in Somalia since 1977 when it responded to the crisis that arose from the war between Ethiopia and Somalia. In the early 1990s it conducted a major emergency assistance operation when the country was plagued by civil war, a situation compounded by periods of famine and acute food shortages.

Presence (2008): 61 staff, including 21 expatriates


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