- Title: SOMALIA: Kuwait donates aid to drought stricken as number of displaced rises
- Date: 8th July 2011
- Summary: MOGADISHU, SOMALIA (RECENT) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF KUWAIT AIR LANDING AT ADEN ADE INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT IN MOGADISHU SOMALI GOVERNMENT OFFICIALS WELCOMING AIRCRAFT CARRYING FOOD AID FROM KUWAIT VARIOUS OF FOOD AID BEING UNLOADED FROM THE AIRCRAFT (SOUNDBITE) (Somali) ABDI WALI MOHAMED HAJJI FIQI, FORMER SOMALI DEFENSE MINISTER SAYING: "We received the first food and medical aid from the Kuwait government which they sent it on two Air force planes. On behalf of the Somali government, I thank the King of Kuwait and his people." AIRPLANE
- Embargoed: 23rd July 2011 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: Somalia, Somalia
- Country: Somalia
- Topics: Disasters
- Reuters ID: LVAAII8MF8OKUEUBQ9SHQJSBVICG
- Story Text: In a swift response to the UN appeal for urgent humanitarian aid, two Kuwaiti planes, loaded with 20 tonnes of food, medicine and tents landed in Somalia's capital, Mogadishu to assist drought stricken Somalis.
A wide swathe of east Africa, including Kenya and Ethiopia, has been hit by a severe drought. The U.N says its the worst in 60 years.
The aid planes, sent by the Kuwait Red Crescent Society, are part of the Kuwaiti contribution to the international efforts to assist the famine-hit people in the impoverished Horn of African nation.
Abdi Wali Mohamed Hajji Fiqi, a former Somali defense minister, along with Somali officials received the aid planes at the Aden Ade airport in Mogadishu, where they thanked His Highness the Amir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahamd Al-Jaber Al-Sabah and all Kuwaiti people.
"We received the first food and medical aid from the Kuwait government which they sent it on two Air force planes. On behalf of the Somali government, I thank the King of Kuwait and his people," he said.
HH the Amir has pledged 10 million US dollars in aid for Somalia.
The United Nations declared last week, famine in two regions of southern Somalia, and warned that this could spread further within two months in the war-ravaged Horn of Africa country unless donors step in.
Meanwhile local aid workers in Mogadishu are struggling to cope with the huge numbers of displaced people who arrive daily at camps, seeking food after their livestock and crops have been decimated by drought.
According to the UN refugee agency UNHCR, Mogadishu has received up to 100,000 people (IDPS) over the last two months, with daily arrivals averaging 1000 in July and many settlements overflowing with displaced people jostling for food and shelter.
"We arrived here early in the morning. We dont have any place here because there is no space, the camp is overcrowd. There is no single space in this camp and we don't know what to do," said Mohamed Limi, an displaced person at Saxansaxo camp.
"As you can see yourself, the camp is full of newly displaced families and there no space inside the camp. There are more than 3000 families that fled from the drought living in the camp," added another displaced person, Hawo Mohamed.
The drought gripping the region straddling Somalia, Kenya and Ethiopia is affecting more than 12 million people with 3.7 facing starvation, according to agencies.
The humanitarian crisis unravelling in Somalia has been compounded by political instability that is nearly impossible to deal with, analysts say.
Years of anarchic conflict in Somalia have exacerbated the emergency, preventing aid agencies from helping communities in the area. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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