Wednesday, August 24, 2011
Salehi made the remark while touring special camps set up by Iranian relief aid workers for drought-stricken people in Mogadishu.
Salehi paid a one-day visit to the draught-hit country to discuss the humanitarian situation in the country with Somali officials and oversee the process of delivering aid to the country.
During his stay in Mogadishu, he held talks with senior Somali officials, including Prime Minister Abdiweli Mohamed Ali, Foreign
Minister Mohamed Ibrahim and Minister for Internal Affairs and Security Abdishakur Sheikh Hassan Farah.
The Iranian foreign minister also visited some hospitals and the largest refugee camp in Mogadishu as well as the camp set up by the Iran’s Red Crescent Society (IRCS), which accommodates 200 households.
 Iranian Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi (L) meets Somali Prime Minister Abdiweli Mohamed Ali in the Somali capital Mogadishu on August 23. |
Salehi also said that Iranian and Somali officials will continue their negotiations over how to tackle the issue of famine, announcing that Somalia’s President Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed will make a trip to Tehran in the near future.
Somali Prime Minister Abdiweli Mohamed Ali on Tuesday expressed gratitude to Iran for its humanitarian aid to the famine-stricken country.
Tehran has so far dispatched six humanitarian aid convoys to the African country. It has provided Somalia with 25 million dollars of humanitarian aid, including foodstuff and medicine.
On July 20, the United Nations declared a famine in two regions of southern Somalia owing to the worst drought in decades, and appealed for urgent resources to assist millions of people in desperate need of help.
Source: Alshahid