Somali President Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed
Press TV
Monday, January 30, 2012
Press TV
Monday, January 30, 2012
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Somalia's
President Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed has expressed gratitude to Iran
for Tehran's humanitarian assistance to the famine-stricken Horn of
Africa nation.
During a Sunday meeting with Iran's Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi on the sidelines of the 18th African Union (AU) Summit in the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa, the Somali president thanked Iranians for dispatching foodstuffs and medicine to the drought-stricken people of Somalia.
The director of public relations department of Iran's Red Crescent Society (IRCS), Pouya Hajian, told Press TV on Monday that the Islamic Republic has sent 22 humanitarian aid convoys to drought-stricken Somalia as part of its continuing efforts to help the conflict-plagued nation.
He added that the IRCS dispatched its last batch of humanitarian aid shipment to Somalia two weeks ago. The 150-ton consignment, comprising of medicine and relief supplies, was sent on board a cargo ship.
Hajian noted that Iran's Red Crescent Society set up a permanent medical center and five makeshift clinics in the Somali capital, Mogadishu, where Iranian physicians provide treatment to thousands of people affected by the drought and an outbreak of epidemic diseases.
The IRCS official pointed out that Iran has also built 18 camps for famine refugees in Mogadishu.
East African countries, including Somalia, Kenya, Ethiopia and Djibouti, have experienced a crippling drought over the last year, but the crisis turned into famine only in Somalia, where aid groups have reduced access due to persisting violence between government forces and al-Shabab forces.
Somalia has been without a functioning government since 1991, when warlords overthrew former dictator Mohamed Siad Barre.
It is one of the countries generating the highest number of refugees and internally displaced people in the world.