Retired WFP staff member Tun Myat (right) meets the Somali warlord Mohamed Farah Aideed at an airstrip in Bardera, Somalia in September 1992.

FROM THE FIELD: Warlords and warehouses; reflections of retired Myanmar WFP staffer

Tun Myat
Retired WFP staff member Tun Myat (right) meets the Somali warlord Mohamed Farah Aideed at an airstrip in Bardera, Somalia in September 1992.

FROM THE FIELD: Warlords and warehouses; reflections of retired Myanmar WFP staffer

Humanitarian Aid

Negotiating with warlords in Somalia and rebels in the South Sudanese bush, and salvaging food from the chaos of the port of Dar es Salaam in Tanzania, was once routine for a retired staff member of the World Food Programme (WFP) from Myanmar.

Tun Myat negotiated the purchase of 20 locomotives from the the Russian Ministry of Railways in 1994-95 to distribute food in three former Soviet Republics.
Tun Myat negotiated the purchase of 20 locomotives from the the Russian Ministry of Railways in 1994-95 to distribute food in three former Soviet Republics., by Tun Myat

Now back in his home country, Tun Myat has been reflecting on the 27 years he spent in some of the world’s most inhospitable trouble spots trying to ensure that food aid reached the most needy and vulnerable.

He’s been sharing his memories with the UN, to mark the award earlier this month of the Nobel Peace Prize to his former employer.

Read more here, about life on food aid’s front line.

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