The United Nations (UN) chief Antonio Guterres on Tuesday appealed for massive international support for the drought-hit Somalia as it battles a desperate humanitarian crisis, reported Africa News.
Guterres arrived in Somalia’s capital Mogadishu on Tuesday. He said his trip to the troubled Horn of African nation is a visit of solidarity.
“I am also here to ring the alarm on the need of massive international support…because of the humanitarian difficulties the country is facing,” he said during a joint press conference with President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud.
The UN chief said the organization is making efforts to help build Somalia’s security capacity and boost the country’s development.
The UN has appealed for international support of $2.6 billion to provide humanitarian assistance to the affected people of Somalia, but Guterres said that only 15 percent of the appeal has been funded so far.
Somalian President Mohamud thanked Guterres for the visit which demonstrates the organization’s concern for Somalia.
The president said that the UN chief’s visit assures that the UN is fully committed to supporting Somalia’s plans for state-building and stabilizing the country.
Five successive failed rainy seasons in parts of Somalia, Kenya, and Ethiopia have resulted in the worst drought in four decades that has displaced at least 1.7 million people from their homes in search of food and water.
According to the UN, about half of Somalia’s population will need humanitarian assistance this year, with 8.3 million affected by the drought.
In March, 21 people lost their lives due to seasonal rains and flooding which also displaced more than 100,000.
Guterres said although the people of Somalia don’t contribute to climate change, they are among its greatest victims.
Back in 2011, over 260,000 people, more than half of them children under the age of six, were killed in a famine in Somalia. The country has also been marred by decades of civil war, political violence and a bloody insurgency by the Al Qaeda-affiliate Al Shabab terror group.
