Somali minister of agriculture Abdi Ahmed Baafo addressing the media
Hiiraan Online
Tuesday, August 5, 2014
The Federal government of Somalia has called for an emergency international live-saving campaign to protect hundreds of thousands of people from starvation.
Somali minister of agriculture Abdi Ahmed Baafo who talked to reporters at the Prime Minister’s office in Mogadishu on Tuesday said that his government was trying its best to deliver food aid and clean drinking water to thousands of families who live in several south-central Somali regions.
“I urge the international aid organizations and as well as Somali business people to urgently reach out to the vulnerable people who are on the verge of starvation— we are afraid that thousands may die in the next few weeks” the minister warned.
“There is no need to talk, this is the time to take an action to protect those people—Somali government has no assets, but we want that the international aid organizations come and spend what the world has allocated for Somalia” the minister expressed.
He said that there was an increasing humanitarian crisis in several regions, but the worst-hit areas are: Gedo, Bakool, Hiiraan and Galgaduud, followed by, Middle Shabelle, Bay and Lower Shabelle as the second worst-hit.
“Next week we are going to deliver hundreds of tanks of drinking water to people in Hiiraan and Galgaduud while other regions will follow---as a government we will do our utmost” the minister noted adding that the world must prevent from the return of what happened in 2011 when Somalia experienced the worst famine in more than 10 years.
HOL English News Desk