famine

Source : Reuters
MOGADISHU | 18 Aug 2011

Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan visited Somalia’s capital Mogadishu on Friday to draw international attention to the famine sweeping across the Horn of Africa nation, threatening to kill hundreds of thousands of children

Erdogan, accompanied by his family and five cabinet ministers, has in the past days appealed for more food aid for the drought-hit nation and lashed out at wealthy Western nations for not doing more.

Source : Reuters
Istanbul | 18 Aug 2011

Organisation of the Islamic Cooperation (OIC) countries have pledged $350 million in aid to fight famine in Somalia at an emergency summit in Istanbul, OIC Secretary General Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu said on Wednesday.

With some 3.7 million Somalis at risk of starvation in the Horn of Africa country, Ihsanoglu said he hoped the aid would soon reach $500 million and urged donors to improve drought-stricken Somalia's long-term food security by helping it rebuild infrastructure and agriculture.

Source : Anadolu Agency
Dadaab | 16 Aug 2011

Muslims living in refugee camps on the Kenyan-Somali border fast during the holy month of Ramadan despite the extremely hot weather.

The Dadaab Refugee Camp on the Kenyan-Somali border is one that thousands of hungry and thirsty individuals walked to for days in order to find food and water.

Muslims living in hot weather and bad conditions continue to fast and teach the holy Qur'an in small homes built of tree branches.

Source : Anadolu Agency
Ankara | 14 Aug 2011

A Turkish aid ship will depart from Istanbul for Somalia on August 14.

Somalia aid ship "Gaza" will carry humanitarian assistance comprised of flour, sugar, baby food, rice, corn, pasta, milk powder and medicines as part of the aid campaign initiated by IHH Humanitarian Aid Foundation.

"Gaza" will hoist anchor from Zeyport, proceed to Turkey's southern Mersin port to load some more assistance, and reach Somalia's capital Mogadishu by passing through Suez Canal.

Source : Al Arabiya
Istanbul | 11 Aug 2011

The Organization of Islamic Cooperation said Wednesday foreign ministers of member states will meet in Turkey next week to discuss aid to drought- and famine-hit Somalia.

The meeting in Istanbul on Tuesday follows a “call by Turkey to help the people of Somalia,” said the largest pan-Islamic body, which is based in Saudi Arabia.

Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu called last week on the 57-member OIC to meet to intervene in Somalia, the Turkish Anatolia news agency said.

Source : Farouk Chothia | BBC African Service
Mogadishu | 09 Aug 2011

Somalia's militant Islamist group al-Shabab is in crisis, as it battles to cope with the famine that is far worse in areas under its control than other parts of the country, leading to reports of splits in the leadership of the al-Qaeda-linked group.

The famine has forced hundreds of thousands of people to flee the Lower Shabelle and Bakool regions in search of food.

Source : Agencies
MOGADISHU | 07 Aug 2011

Somali President Sheikh Sharif Ahmed said on Saturday his military had defeated Islamist rebels battling to overthrow his Western-backed government after the al Shabab group began withdrawing fighters from the capital Mogadishu.

Rejecting Ahmed’s claim to have quashed al Shabab’s four-year insurgency, the militants’ spokesman, Sheikh Ali Mohamud Rage, said their retreat was tactical only and that they were holding their positions elsewhere in the anarchic country.

Source : John Heilprin | AP
GENEVA | 04 Aug 2011

The International Committee of the Red Cross announced plans Thursday to more than double its budget to feed starving Somalis, particularly thousands of children suffering from a confluence of drought, violence and internal politics.

The group says the malnutrition rate among children under the age of 5 is now above 20 percent — and climbing.

Source : Agencies
ISTANBUL | 29 Jul 2011

Member states of the Organization of the Islamic Cooperation (OIC) gathered in Istanbul Thursday to coordinate an emergency response to the devastating drought in Somalia.

"In such a large-scale disaster, we need to join hands together and to act collectively so as to counter the spread of the calamity and to save as many lives as we possibly can," OIC Secretary-General Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu of Turkey told a meeting of the organization's relief aid agencies.

Source : Anadolu Agency
Mogadishu | 20 Jul 2011

Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) Secretary General Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu declared several regions of Somalia a famine zone.

OIC stated on Wednesday that famine disaster was affecting currently four regions in Somalia (Bay, Bakool, Juba and Lower Shebelle), and the lack of access to food under the quasi complete absence of international humanitarian organizations, and high rates of mortality among children, as well as the high incidence of drought indicate to famine in the country.