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Muslim Aid distributes food supplies to Somalis.
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CAIRO,
April 9, 2006 (IslamOnline.net) – Muslim aid organizations in
Britain have stepped up assistance to East Africa and launched urgent
donation campaigns as the region has been hit by the worst drought
wave in living memory.
Islamic
Relief (IR) is providing emergency assistance in the Mandera region of
Kenya in the north-east, the London-based Muslim aid group said in a
press release on its website Saturday, April 8.
"Emergency
water distribution continues in Kabo and Kamor-Libaan in Lafey
division where 2000 people receive 10,000lts of water daily," it
said.
Water
distributions to five more villages in the Lafey area are being
organized.
A
Supplementary Feeding Program is providing food each week to almost
600 malnourished children, pregnant women, nursing mothers, and the
elderly in Kamor-Libaan, Damasa, Libehiya and Kabo.
In
Ethiopia, the group said up to five water tankers to Hargelle,
Charrati and Filtu towns, reaching some 30,000 people.
In
partnership with UNICEF, Islamic Relief will also be setting up two
water treatment stations to purify river water.
The
group has further launched an
online
donation
campaign.
The
United Nations appealed Friday, April 7, for hundreds of millions of
dollars in urgent aid to rescue million of lives threatened in
draught-hit East Africa.
Since
late 2005, east Africans have been facing hunger and losing livestock,
due to a drought one aid agency, Oxfam, said will take 15 years to
recover from.
The
drought has hit Kenya, Somalia and Ethiopia hardest, but also
Djibouti, Eritrea, Burundi, Uganda and Tanzania.
Food
Distribution
London-based
Muslim Aid is now providing more than £124,000 to those suffering
from famine in Somalia and Kenya.
"Muslim
Aid is planning early food distribution for communities to the west,
near the Bakool border, if the hoped-for rains fail to
materialize," Ahmed Mohammad, country director of Muslim Aid
Somalia said in a press release.
In
the second phase, Muslim Aid plans to distribute food, water, medicine
and nutrition biscuits to 35,000 people in the southern Somalia
regions of Gedo and Bay, where 1.7 million people are in need of food
aid.
In
all, 117 tonnes of food will be distributed to 7,500 families, with
each family receiving about 16 kilograms of food. The group has
accepts
online
donations.
Mohammad
warned that cattle and goats have been most affected.
"Predictions
indicate that the situation is likely to worsen unless April rains
bring some hope."
Hundreds
of thousands of livestock and wildlife have perished from the drought
further damaging prospects for many.
Muslim
Aid is also working with the Kakamenga Muslim Teachers Welfare group
and the Mandera Islamic Centre to bring emergency food, water and
medical relief to Wajir and Mandera in north-east Kenya.
