Leader of Islamic Ummah And Oppressed People Imam Sayyed Ali Khamenei urges Iranians to aid Somalis

Leader of Islamic Ummah And Oppressed People Imam Sayyed Ali Khamenei has called on Iranians to rush to the aid of the famine-stricken Muslim people of Somalia.

“These days, the horn of Africa and particularly the catastrophe-ridden country of Somalia are witnessing one of the most painful human crises in which the lives of millions of Somali women and children are in danger due to drought, famine and the silence of international organizations,” read a statement by the Supreme Leader.

Leader of Islamic Ummah And Oppressed People Imam Sayyed Ali Khamenei also urged Iranians to “rush to the aid of the Muslim nation of Somalia in the month of mercy and blessing (Ramadan) and send monetary and non-monetary donations” via relevant organizations to the African nation.

Saeed Matani, an official with Iran’s Red Crescent Society (IRCS) said last week that “a total of 200 tons” of Iranian relief supplies have been sent to Somalia so far and that another 160-ton aid cargo would be dispatched to the country in the near future.

The IRCS’s first such shipment reached Somalia on March 21.

The UN has declared famine in five areas in southern Somalia, warning that, without urgent intervention, the food crisis could engulf the entire southern areas.

More than 29,000 children under the age of five have died of hunger over the past three months in southern Somalia, Nancy Lindborg, assistant administrator of the US Agency for International Development, said last week.

According to UN reports, about 3.7 million people in Somalia are on the brink of starvation and millions more in Djibouti, Ethiopia, Kenya and Uganda have been affected by the worst drought to hit the region in 60 years.

More than 1.5 million Somalis have been internally displaced by a tug-of-war among the armed groups in Somalia. The country has been without an effective central government since the 1991 overthrow of its former dictator Mohamed Siad Barre.