Turkey sends 27 tons of humanitarian aid to Somalia

ANKARA - Hürriyet Daily News

Hürriyet photo

Turkey’s Disaster and Emergency Management Presidency (AFAD) sent 27 tons of humanitarian assistance to Somalia Dec. 24, via a cargo plane provided by Turkish Airlines.

The aid was collected through coordination by the Health Ministry, the Turkish International Cooperation and Development Agency Presidency, the General Directorate of the State Waterworks Authority and the Yardımeli Association, AFAD said in a statement, without elaborating on the content of the aid.

Two armored vehicles provided by the Prime Ministry and the Foreign Ministry, to be used at the Turkish Embassy in Mogadishu, were also sent.

AFAD noted that as part of humanitarian assistance for Somalia, so far 30,000 tons of material aid has been sent.

Somalia has been mired in violence, Islamist militancy and grinding poverty since warlords toppled military dictator Mohamed Siad Barre in 1991, leaving the country with no effective central government for two decades. Security has improved in the last 19 months with al-Qaeda-linked militants losing more territory under pressure from African Union and Somali forces.

The four-year insurgency waged by al-Shabaab left Mogadishu in ruins, and the country is looking to foreign donors to help rebuild its ravaged economy after decades of conflict. Turkey has taken a leading role in the redevelopment of Mogadishu, as it seeks to boost its profile in Africa and promote itself as a model Muslim democracy.