Mogadishu: The UAE aid and rescue team has started handing out emergency humanitarian aid to refugees in Somalia.
Thousands of people affected by drought and famine in the Horn of Africa were given food supplies.
The team, which includes the Red Crescent Authority, and the Shaikh Khalifa Bin Zayed Humanitarian Foundation, launched the first phase of the plan to ward off the shadow of famine in Somalia.
The plan targets refugees in camps around Mogadishu which house tens of thousands of refugees who have fled their drought-stricken regions and arrived at the camps in bad condition as a result of hunger and thirst.
The UAE food aid convoy delivered relief supplies to the refugee camp six kilometres away from the capital Mogadishu. The supplies included rice, maize, cooking oil and dates.
The team members met with the refugees who talked about their additional needs. Fresh aid convoys will aim to cover those in need as well as other refugee camps in Somalia.
Mohammad Ahmad Nour Trsen, Mogadishu's governor who accompanied the UAE aid convoy, said there were 350,000 refugees distributed in 55 camps all over the capital.
The UAE team also found that the refugee camps lacked basic health and hygiene facilities due to overcrowding. Most children suffered from acute malnutrition.
