São Paulo – The Kuwaiti government donated US$ 250,000 to aid the United Nations Children’s Fund (Unicef) in fighting hunger caused by the worst drought of the last 60 years in Somalia. The donation was announced last week by the Kuwaiti representative to the United Nations, Mansour Ayyad Al-Otaibi.
The executive director of the UN’s World Food Programme (WFP), Josette Sheeran, stated that the money will be allocated to “continue the support to 1.9 million people in Somalia with life-saving nutritious food.”
Since early July, Unicef carried 24,000 tonnes of food into the African country. According to the organization, there are roughly 320,000 malnourished children in Somalia, and 490,000 people have left the country for other nations seeking food.
In addition to the US$ 250,000 donated to Unicef, the Kuwaiti government announced that it will allocate US$ 6 million to the UN agency in 2012. The announcement was made during a conference held to define which actions will be taken by the United Nations in 2012. Twenty member states have promised to donate US$ 265 million.
*Translated by Gabriel Pomerancblum
