Humanitarian supplies from the Irish Government to help the people of the Horn of Africa arrived in the Somali capital Mogadishu last week.
Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade Eamon Gilmore said the 38 metric tones, which include water and shelter materials from his department’s humanitarian depot in Dubai, are to be distributed by Concern to thousands of refugees in the war-torn country, which has been stricken by famine.
He said the Government, through its official aid programme Irish Aid, is also funding emergency feeding programmes run by Concern, Trócaire and the Red Cross in Somalia.
According to the Tánaiste, as of 27 July the Government has provided almost €7m in its response to the humanitarian crisis, and has also deployed 11 members of the Rapid Response Corps to the region.
“The lives of many thousands of people in Somalia and the Horn of Africa will be saved as a direct result of this operation,” he said. “We are particularly focused on children as it is they who are suffering most.
“These emergency feeding programmes funded by Ireland are already saving hundreds of lives each day.”
Minister of State for Trade and Development Jan O’Sullivan said a technical team from Irish Aid, which includes members of the Emergency Civilian Assis-tance Team, was in the region assessing how Irish funding could be most effectively used in the relief operation.
The team met agencies responding to the crisis, including a visit to the Dadaab refugee camp in Kenya close to the border with Somalia, before reporting back to the Tánaiste and Minister of State.
“The Government wants to ensure that the Irish contribution to the relief operation is as effective as possible and the technical team will make recommendations as to how we can maximise the impact of Irish Aid funding, ” said Minister O’Sullivan.
“[We need] to be sure we reach as many of the starving and displaced as we possibly can. Given the scale of the crisis, a focused and concerted global effort is essential.”
