Somali Prime Minister Abdiweli Sheikh Ahmed
Thursday, March 27, 2014
Somali Prime Minister Abdiweli Sheikh Ahmed arrived in Kampala Wednesday (March 26th) to attend the Intergovernmental Authority on Development's (IGAD) second Drought Resilience Summit.
The summit is intended to increase support for the Drought, Disaster and Sustainability Initiative, a 15-year strategy launched in 2013 to prevent drought emergencies in East Africa.
"The initiative will help rediscover the true value of the region's resources and opportunities for production," said IGAD Executive Secretary Mahboub Maalim according to Turkey's Anadolu Agency. "We have to
look at a regional approach and engage all the countries to promote, facilitate and support drought resilience and sustainability."
More than 250,000 Somalis died during the 2010-2011 famine, Ahmed said, making drought a matter of genuine concern to the Somali government.
"Drought not only hits the most vulnerable communities but can have a devastating impact on the entire region -- exacerbating food insecurity to famine levels, increasing economic hardships and human suffering," he said in a statement. "We must focus on early warning and preparedness in the drought prone communities and a quick response when drought hits. The long-term solution must be to continue to mitigate through safety nets and build resilience."
"As a region we must continue to work together to do things differently to prevent and alleviate the devastating impact drought can have," he said.