Bangui — Despite daunting difficulties and challenges, the UN system successfully carried out 1,800 humanitarian missions in the Central African Republic (CAR) in 2008.

The country, though desperately in need of assistance, poses real obstacles to the humanitarian workers tasked with distributing aid to thousands of citizens.

Armed rebel groups, tropical storms, violent 'coupeurs de route' and malaria-carrying mosquitoes are only some of the challenges facing humanitarian workers in CAR.  The country's history of conflict, its prolonged economic crisis, scarcity of food and resources, and lack of basic health services make distributing and ensuring vital aid even more difficult.

The UN World Food Programme (WFP) is best known as the United Nations frontline agency in the fight against global hunger, and also houses a specialized team of telecommunications experts.

Michael Dirksen and Ekue Ayih are two of these experts working for the WFP's Fast IT and Telecommunications Emergency and Support Team (FITTEST). They are currently deployed on a 4-week mission in CAR to ensure that other humanitarian aid workers there have access to a secure and effective communications network – a vital component of distributing aid.

A FITTEST team visited the country last year to establish three Inter Agency radio rooms. The humanitarian community in CAR now has access to these live radio rooms 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. These radio lines connect all agencies and employees on the ground, and allow radio operators to track and communicate with humanitarian workers travelling throughout the region.

Michael explains: "In this mission, we're going to upgrade the radio rooms in Bangui, the capital, and Ndele, a rebel-controlled area in the north of the country where occasional fighting has been happening these days. Once the equipment arrives, it will take two days of travel to reach Ndele from Bangui."

After missions in Burundi, East Timor, Colombia and Guinea, CAR is one of the most challenging environments in which Michael has ever operated. "Working in CAR is tough," he says. "IT standards are very different from what I've seen in other countries and planning becomes a daily battle."

These lines of communication, and Michael and Ekue's courageous efforts and telecoms expertise, may ultimately mean a passport to survival for aid workers struggling to support and save lives in such a difficult environment.