UAE comes to help of drought-hit Mogadishu

MOGADISHU: An Emirati aid ship carrying more than 1,000 tonnes of various food and relief supplies has arrived at Mogadishu port in Somalia to meet the needs of approximately 2.5 million people affected by drought.

This initiative comes as part of the directives of President His Highness Sheikh Mohamed Bin Zayed Al Nahyan to provide all forms of humanitarian support to the Somali people facing drought.

The shipment was conducted in cooperation with the Emirates Red Crescent (ERC), the Zayed Bin Sultan Al Nahyan Charitable and Humanitarian Foundation, and the Khalifa Bin Zayed Al Nahyan Foundation.

Authorities began distributing relief aid to families and those displaced in their areas and camps.

The UAE is exerting significant effort to deliver relief to Somali regions affected by the drought caused by a lack of rain for three consecutive seasons.

The UAE’S interest in the humanitarian situation of the Somali people reflects the leadership’s keenness to aid all countries and enhance their ability to address humanitarian crises and mitigate their impact. Somalia is one of the Horn of Africa’s most drought-affected countries, which causes severe suffering to thousands of people.

Separately, the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) and The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) have signed a regional Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to support joint advocacy, capacity development, and resource mobilisation for the coordinated national-level implementation of anticipatory action (AA) in response to climate shocks in the Middle East and North Africa region.

The signing took place at the conclusion of “Road to COP27: Anticipatory Action Milestones and Way Forward in MENA”, an event that was hosted by the International Humanitarian City (IHC), Dubai, and atended by high-level speakers and representatives from the UAE government, Ministry of Climate Change and Environment, WFP, IFRC, Red Cross Red Crescent Climate Centre and national societies, regional and international humanitarian organisations, including UNDRR, FAO, Start Network, REAP.