Australia offers $9 mn aid for Somalia

The Australian government said Monday it will provide $9 million in assistance to enhance stability and support state building efforts in Somalia.

Australia said it will be allocating $1.8 million to support the objectives of the African Union Mission to Somalia (AMISOM), which has been working alongside the Somali National Army to get rid off Al-Shabaab militants, who have been fighting the Somali government on nearly a daily basis, Xinhua reported.

“A further 7.2 million dollars will be delivered as humanitarian assistance to provide life-saving support, such as access to water and medical care, and to help build resilience for natural and conflict-related emergencies,” it said in a statement received in Nairobi.

The funding comes after the UN warned that Somalia could experience humanitarian crises of mammoth proportion if the international community fails to respond promptly to an earlier appeal for intervention.

The UN Office for Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) has appealed for 933 million U.S. dollars from the international community in 2014 to respond to unfolding humanitarian crises in Somalia.

business-standard.com