Somalian Prime Minister Abdiweli Mohamed Ali, whose famine-stricken country needs shipments of food and medicine, has brought his appeal for aid to Toronto.

“We have provided as much as we can, but we cannot do it alone,” he told the Star before an expected appearance before a large gathering of the city’s Somali community Sunday. “We appeal to the international community to provide relief.”

In a brief phone interview — Ali was staying with family in Buffalo, N.Y., before travelling to Toronto — he said that while it is upcoming United Nations meetings that brought him to North America, he also wanted to update this city’s Somalis on the starvation, the fight against Al Shabab Islamist rebels and the quest for democratic elections next August.

There are others trying to bring attention to the famine. This morning, 20 Canadians begin an eight-day walk from Toronto to Ottawa intended to raise awareness.

Mohamud Musse, a high school teacher, organized Ali’s appearance last night at a hotel near Pearson airport.

“This is the first (Somali) prime minister who has come to visit Canada in over two decades,” Musse said. “The people are so excited.”

Ali said his government has set up camps for the starving.

“They lost all their livelihood. They are in the country, but they do not have homes. They need help,” he said, adding that the largest camp has more than 40,000 people “looking for safety and succor.”

“The camps are everywhere. We open small police stations in the camp so they will be protected. We opened clinics.”

But Ali said that hundreds of thousands live in areas controlled by Al Shabab and are cut off from aid.

Though Al Shabab was pushed out of the capital, Mogadishu, earlier this year, Ali said he wanted to talk to Somali Canadians about the his effort to “bring back law and order” throughout Somalia.

Ali said a draft of a constitution has been written, and he hopes for a national election next summer.

“We want to unite the country. We want the government to be more inclusive, to bring all Somalis under one tent. We extend peace to everybody who wants to be part of that process. If Al Shabab wants to be a part of that process . . . we welcome that.”

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Toronto Star

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