Som@li Posted August 11, 2011 Iran's Red Crescent Society (IRCS) is set to send the Islamic Republic's second humanitarian aid shipment to Somalia to help with the relief of famine-stricken people of the African country. The shipment, which will be dispatched later on Thursday, comprises of 40 tons of food and medication, ISNA reported. IRCS's fist aid shipment, which included 60 tons of food and medication, arrived in Somalia's capital of Mogadishu on March 21. The UN has declared famine in five areas in southern Somalia, warning that without urgent intervention, the food crisis could engulf the entire southern part of the country. More than 29,000 children under the age of five have died of hunger over the past three months in southern Somalia, Nancy Lindborg, assistant administrator of the US Agency for International Development said last Thursday. On Sunday, at least 25 more Somali children starved to death in Mogadishu due to the country's worst humanitarian catastrophe in decades. According to UN reports, about 3.7 million people in Somalia are on the brink of starvation and millions more in Djibouti, Ethiopia, Kenya and Uganda have been affected by the worst drought in the region in 60 years. More than 1.5 million Somalis have been internally displaced by a tug-of-war among the armed factions in the African country, which has been without an effective central government since the overthrow of the country's former dictator Mohamed Siad Barre in 1991. MYA/HJL/MB Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
