- Title: KENYA: German Chancellor offers 1million Euros for Somali refugee camp
- Date: 13th July 2011
- Summary: KENYAN PRESIDENT MWAI KIBAKI AND GERMAN CHANCELLOR ANGELA MERKEL ON PODIUM (SOUNDBITE) (English) KENYAN PRESIDENT, MWAI KIBAKI, SAYING: "I acknowledge with gratitude the commitment of the German government to make available to Kenya 140 million Euros to fund various projects in Kenya for the period from the year 2010, to the year 2013." HEADS OF STATE ON PODIUM KENYAN
- Embargoed: 28th July 2011 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: Kenya, Kenya
- Country: Kenya
- Topics: Economy,Politics,Social Services / Welfare
- Reuters ID: LVAB5U8MHW7BRD1UL47R0W6WMIKJ
- Story Text: The German chancellor Angela Merkel arrived in Kenya late on Monday night and held bilateral talks with her host president Mwai Kibaki on Tuesday morning.
Kibaki thanked the German government for continued investments in the country and asked for more co-operation.
"I acknowledge with gratitude the commitment of the German government to make available to Kenya 140 million Euros to fund various projects in Kenya for the period from the year 2010, to the year 2013." said Kibaki.
The German chancellor announced that they would undertake to build infrastructure to Sudan and a port for imports and exports for Sudan on the Kenyan coastal town of Lamu. She also pledged aid to Somali refugees.
"We are only too pleased on what you said earlier with respect to being interested in German involvement in helping building the port of Lamu and establish the necessary infrastructure. We have already established excellent cooperation in the field of energy, the use of energy, making it available and also benefiting from renewables. The fact that the minister of agriculture is a member of my delegation during this trip is an expression of the fact that we intend to do more in the field of agriculture too, especially in the face of the terrible drought that's making so many people in this region suffer direly. I think it's important that one prepares for such natural disasters on time, in a timely manner. But we also, by making available an additional one million Euro in aid to the refugees in the camp of Dadaab, who so kindly have taken in the Somali refugees and the fact that the Secretary of State from the ministry for economic cooperation is a member of my delegation is also an expression of our intention to do more in that respect." said Merkel.
The region is currently facing drought due to failed rains over several regions, but the situation in Somalia is also made worse by ongoing violence causing thousands of people to flee across the border into Kenya where camps are already swollen with refugees.
Merkel is expected to have a joint news conference with the Prime minister and later address students at the University of Nairobi before leaving the country. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
- Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2011. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
- Usage Terms/Restrictions: None