Brussels, 20/01/2016 (Agence Europe) - In 2016, the European Commission will earmark €29 million for 2016 in humanitarian support for the most vulnerable populations in Somalia.
The EU Commissioner for Humanitarian Aid and Crisis Management, Christos Stylianides, announced these funds on Wednesday 20 January in Mogadishu during a visit to Somalia, where he met the Somali authorities and the Commission's humanitarian partners.
Funding will come from the ECHO budget (the Commission's Humanitarian and Civil Protection Service), and will contribute to providing food, healthcare, clean drinking water and hygiene, shelter, protection and education to the population currently living in a crisis situation.
“Despite the challenging security conditions for humanitarian workers to deliver aid, we cannot overlook long lasting and complex crises like that of Somalia”, explained Commissioner Stylianides.
In this country in the Horn of Africa, there are 5 million people requiring humanitarian aid and 1 million people remain displaced inside the country. The Commissioner added “Our humanitarian aid remains most needed, yet a conducive political environment is the only solution that can end the humanitarian crisis”. (Original version in French by Aminata Niang)