EU humanitarian aid for Somalia

The European Commission has allocated €2 million to help victims of civil strife and drought in Somalia. The acute needs generated by the country's decade-long internal crisis have been made worse by alternating cycles of drought and flooding. This money will fund health care and food and will be channeled through ECHO, the Humanitarian Aid Office, which comes under the responsibility of Commissioner Poul Nielson.

The objective of the new decision is to meet the health and nutritional needs of vulnerable populations in Central and Southern Somalia. Interventions include improvements to primary health care, measures to reduce acute malnutrition among vulnerable groups, rehabilitation of water and sanitation systems and livestock projects designed to boost food security.

Somalia faces some of the most difficult humanitarian conditions in the world. Most of the basic infrastructures have been destroyed and the continuing lack of security hinders the delivery of vital assistance. In the areas targeted by this decision, the traditional coping mechanisms of the local population have been seriously eroded.

The decision will be implemented through partner NGOs, the International Committee of the Red Cross and UNICEF.

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• EU humanitarian aid for Somalia (15/3/2002)