Indonesia to send 1,000 tonnes of rice to support Somalia

NAN-F-24

Hunger

Jakarta, April 10, 2017 (Xinhua/NAN) Indonesia will send 1,000 tonnes of rice to Somalia in a bid to help ease hunger problem in the African country, one of the organisers of the aid said on Monday.

“Indonesian Vice President Jusuf Kalla is scheduled to launch shipments of the assistance, organised by the ACT aid group, an NGO in Tanjung Perak port in East Java province at the end of the month.

“God willing, the rice will be sent between April 23 to 30 from the sea port in Surabaya city (capital of East Java province),” ACT President Ahyudin said.

The shipment of the aid to Somalia would take about 20 days, he added.

According to a UN report, about 6.2 million people are suffering from hunger in Eastern Africa.

Indonesia has frequently taken part in humanitarian missions in foreign countries, including offering humanitarian aids.

NAN recalls that on March 7, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres made an emergency visit to Somalia to highlight the country’s famine crisis, meeting the new president and saying the worsening hunger requires a massive response.

“People are dying. The world must act now to stop this,” the UN chief tweeted on his arrival in this Horn of Africa nation.

“We need to make as much noise as possible,” Guterres said.

“Conflict, drought, climate change, disease, cholera. The combination is a nightmare.”

NAN reports that Somalis is part of a massive four billion dollars aid appeal launched last month for four nations suffering from conflict and hunger.

The others are Nigeria, Yemen and South Sudan, where famine already has been declared.

Somalia announced its first death toll since declaring a national disaster, saying 110 people had died in a 48-hour period in a single region.

The UN estimates that five million people in Somalia need aid, amid warnings of a famine.

(Xinhua/NAN)

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Edited by Celine-Damilola Oyewole/Sadiya Hamza