TURKEY CONCERNS WITH SOMALIA'S ONGOING FAMINE, WILL CONTINUE TO PROVIDE AID

KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 8 (Bernama) -- Turkey is deeply concerned with the
ongoing humanitarian catastrophe in Somalia, and will continue to send aid to
the nation to help prevent child deaths from hunger.

To help alleviate the suffering in the Horn of Africa, Turkey has so far
sent 16,000 tonnes of aid to Somalia, a Turkish embassy statement here said.

Turkey, among the first few countries to give aid to Somalia, has provided
aid totalling US$50 million since it started its humanitarian effort in August.

Over that period Turkey has set up two hospitals and donated eight
ambulances, six jeeps and one forklift to the war-ravaged country, the statement
said.

Several Islamic nations and organisations have also increased their
humanitarian assistance to Somalia, especially during the holy month of Ramadan
last month, when Muslims around the world fast and practice abstinence.


Malaysia's Putera 1Malaysia Club which organised a humanitarian aid mission
to Somalia despatched more than 200 tonnes of food and medicine while Malaysian
Medical Relief Society (Mercy Malaysia) is expected to send its second
humanitarian aid and relief mission to Somalia before the end of the year
despite the death of Bernama TV cameraman Noramfaizul Mohd Nor.

Noramfaizul was killed by a stray bullet while travelling in a four-wheel
drive vehicle with other media personnel after covering the Putera 1Malaysia
Club aid mission.

The Islamic Development Bank (IDB) meanwhile has allocated US$2.2 million to
distribute food, medicines and other relief supplies among famine-hit Somalis
while the 57-member Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) in an emergency
meeting in Istanbul last month pledged a US$350 million donation to Somalia.

Apart from Turkey, donations came from Algeria, Bahrain, Egypt, Gabon, Iran,
Kazakhistan, Malaysia, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Senegal and Sudan, reports said.

Meanwhile, the United Nations said Monday that famine has spread to six out
of eight regions in southern Somalia, owing to the worst drought in decades,
with 750,000 people facing imminent starvation and hundreds of people are dying
each day despite a ramping up of aid relief.

According to the United Nations, the Horn of Africa’s worst ever drought
disaster has resulted in up to 3.7 million people needing humanitarian aid and
some US$2.5 billion required to tackle the famine.

-- BERNAMA