Somalia's Prime Minister Mohamed Hussain Roble thanked the Unites Arab Emirates for their generous contribution after delivering 26 tons of Humanitarian aid shipment to Somalia to help those affected by drought in Somalia.
The United Arab Emirates has already pledged to help Somalis affected by the recent drought in southern and central Somalia. The aid packages contained nutritious food and medical aid.
However, experts warned that food shipments to Somalia were slowing down since few vessels were willing to travel to the country's pirate-infested waters.
World Food Program delivers 90 per cent of its food aid to Somalia by sea. It says air and overland routes are not practical given the scale of the operation.
Pirates have attacked 24 ships off Somalia's eastern and northern coasts so far this year, compared with 31 attacks in the whole of 2007.
Somalia counters an ongoing drought and growing food insecurity, mainly in the southern part of the country. More than 5.9 million Somalis need urgent assistance, with 3.5 million of them facing acute food insecurity.
Prime Minister Roble called for urgent assistance for the affected people during an emergency meeting about the situation with some members of his cabinet.
Drought is not the only culprit behind the dire humanitarian situation in Somalia, the humanitarian situation overall has been impacted not only by the drought but also by the continued threat by the desert locust situation.
According to OCHA, funding for humanitarian aid has dipped to its lowest point in five years. The U.N. agency has appealed for about 1.1 billion dollars to help Somalia, but only half of that figure has been received.
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