“Please do not forget it.”..UN: Somalia is on the brink of a terrible famine
On Tuesday, the head of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs called on the international community to provide funds to help Somalia, saying that more than 200,000 people are on the brink of famine due to a historic drought.
During a video press conference from the Somali capital, Mogadishu, Martin Griffiths appealed to the international community, saying: "Please do not forget Somalia."
He described the tragic situation of the country through the story of a two-and-a-half-year-old girl he met in hospital on Sunday.
"It's an image that is not shown on TV. Extremely thin and unable to communicate because of her desperate situation," said the OCHA chief, who looked emotionally stunned.
"She passed away today," he added.
After "seeing what we did not want to see" in this hospital, he added, "The worrying thing is that the situation may be worse in the areas from which they come," stressing the need to be able to help drought victims directly before they begin to flee.
On Monday, he warned that Somalia was on the verge of famine, issuing a "last warning".
"We need the money," Martin Griffiths stressed.
He urged donor countries whose aid has declined due to the economic crisis linked to the war in Ukraine, by saying, "So please do not forget Somalia."
He concluded by saying, "It is unprecedented and for this reason we are sounding the alarm and trying to draw the attention of the international community to the atrocity of famine coming to the Horn of Africa first in Somalia, with the role of Ethiopia and Kenya most likely."
Follow our latest local and sports news and the latest political and economic developments via Google news