Somalia president contributes sh 3 million personal cash to relief fund kitty

The president of Somalia Mohamed Abdulahi Farmajo (Courtesy)

MOGADISHU—The president of Somalia Mohamed Abdullahi Farmajo has contributed sh 3M ($30,000) to the relief fund kitty, the Prime Minister has revealed.

While rallying the Somali business community to cotributes to the kitty, Hassan Ali Kheyre said the president is leading the campaign at a time when then country is on the verge of famine.

”Today, I received a call from the presidnet. When I went to his office, he handed me $30,000 and instructed me to contribure to the relief fund kitty,”Kheyre said on a live TV show.

Kheyre added that he president received the cash from a business friend and, ”he decided to contribute to the kitty.”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fYUi46IGSik

Following a call to the business community to come to the aid of the starving Somalis, the head of the Dahabshiil branch in Mogadishu contributed sh 30,000,000 ($30,000) to the kitty.

The premier made the revelation at a day when the humanitarian orgernisations reported the death of at least 110 people withing 48 hours in one region of the country.

After a visit to several countries and region affected by the drought, Stephen O’Brien told the UN Security Council that “without collective and co-ordinated global efforts, people will simply starve to death” and “many more will suffer and die from disease.”

In Somalia, more than half the population — 6.2 million people — need humanitarian assistance and protection, including 2.9 million who are at risk of famine and require immediate help “to save or sustain their lives.

He warned that close to one million children under the age of five will be “acutely malnourished” this year.

“What I saw and heard during my visit to Somalia was distressing — women and children walk for weeks in search of food and water. They have lost their livestock, water sources have dried up and they have nothing left to survive on,” O’Brien said. “With everything lost, women, boys, girls and men now move to urban centres.”

The humanitarian chief said current indicators mirror “the tragic picture of 2011 when Somalia last suffered a famine.” But he said the U.N.’s humanitarian partners have a larger footprint, better controls on resources, and a stronger partnership with the new government which recently declared the drought a national disaster.

“To be clear, we can avert a famine,” O’Brien said. “We’re ready despite incredible risk and danger … but we need those huge funds now.”