Food for Somalia Approved by EC
The European Community’s executive commission approved 10,000 tons of emergency food aid Monday for drought-stricken Somalia, where thousands of people are starving to death.
The aid, which will be delivered as soon as possible, is to support humanitarian operations of the International Committee of the Red Cross, the commission said in a statement.
It said it has also approved 140 tons of high-nutrition food aid to Somali refugees who have reached Yemen and an extra $5.5 million in non-food aid.
The EC has already granted 135,000 tons of food aid and $12.3 million worth of non-food aid such as tents and medicines for Somali refugees.
Somalia plunged into anarchy after President Mohamed Siad Barre was ousted in January, 1991, in a bloody civil war. Relief officials say 4.5 million of the country’s 6.5 million people face starvation because of fighting and drought.
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