Somali government sends food aid to Beledweyne, Bulaburte in Hiiraan region

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Somali government has dispatched four planes carrying food aid to the Beledweyne and Bulaburte districts in Hiiraan region.

Chairman of Somalia’s Disaster Management Agency (SODMA) Mohamud Moalim Abdullahi, Permanent Secretary of the Prime Minister’s Office, Mohamed Abukar Zubeyr and other officials who coordinated the aid did not specify the number of tons they sent to the region.

Last month, the federal government sent a plane carrying food aid to the Bula Burte district of the Hiiraan region to help drought-affected people in the country.

Bula Burte is one of the districts most affected by the current severe drought in Somalia. In addition, the district has been under siege from Al-Shabaab for almost ten years.

Somalia is battling the worst drought in decades, with UN and community activists sounding the alarm.

The Somali government received 40 containers of food aid from the United Arab Emirates last week amid concern over famine in the Horn of Africa. The drought has displaced a million people so far.

UAE Ambassador to Somalia Mohamed al-Othmani, said the food supplies include more than 1,000 metric tons sent by the UAE Red Crescent, meant to help Somalia fight the drought that has devastated the country.