Saturday May 9, 2020
This CGTN Africa video published on May 14, 2018 after China responded to pleas for assistance for flood victims in central Somalia donating $1.5 million in aid to survivors. / Video Courtesy: CGTN Africa
Mogadishu (HOL) - Over $2.5 million donated by foreign governments and Somalis locally for the Beletweyne flood response did not reach the intended communities, Hiiraan Online has learned.
A source privy to the aid mobilization process told HOL that $1.5 million donated by the Chinese government back in May of 2018 was diverted to fund the ongoing ICJ maritime case at the Hague.
“The money donated by the Chinese to help the Beletweyne floods efforts were used to pay the lawyers representing Somalia in the maritime case with Kenyan at the ICJ,” the source who requested anonymity said.
The source noted a $600,000 contribution from the Djibouti government and a pledge of $500,000 by the Federal Government failed to reach the flood victims.
China’s ambassador to Somalia Qin Jian announced the donation May 2018 during a joint press conference with Foreign Affairs Minister Isse Awad. However, the source close to the HirShabelle administration said the local government did not receive the funds.
Speaking to the VOA, Beletweyne floods committee chairman, Haji Osman Dhagahow, said Friday that support from the federal government had been limited thus far. He said that although they have received contributions from local and international groups, the central government has only sent 500 Hesco bags.
Nearly half a million people were affected by the floods with another 300,000 uprooted from their homes when the Shabelle river burst its banks last September.
The Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) warned Thursday floods were imminent in Beletweyne owing to heavy rains particularly in southern Ethiopia where the river originates.