The Somali National Olympic committee which is playing a big role in the campaign against famine and starvation in the country has spread its relief work out side Mogadishu this week.

The Somali NOC first vice president of international relation Duran Ahmed Farah who talked to reporters in Mogadishu on Saturday said that his NOC is fully engaged in a humanitarian operation in the capital and surrounding villages as part of the NOC’s role in the anti-famine and starvation campaign in the war- weary country.

He said that Somali NOC members made contributions among themselves, but that was not adequate to tackle such huge starvation in the country and urged international sport to play a key role in the humanitarian campaign in the famine-hit Somalia.

“We were expecting more hand from the International sports family like the IOC, but that has yet to come—I hope the IOC and other international sporting organizations to give a quick response to the famine in Somalia” said Mr. Duran Farah who is also Qatar Charity country director for Somalia.

He noted that FIFA’s recent one million dollars donation was a good step forward, but that was still small in comparison with the huge needs in the country where a humanitarian disaster is afraid to take place.

“Our duty was to develop sport in Somalia, but the starvation here has compelled us to form a humanitarian part within the Somali NOC in a bid to raise awareness among international sports family” the NOC senior vice president told the media.

On behalf of the Somali NOC he praised the Qatar Charity for its continued efforts to save the lives of hundreds of thousands of internally displaced Somalis and those in the Dhadhaab refugee camps northeastern Kenya.

“When Famine in Somalia appeared in the news headlines every where in the world the Qatar Charity was the first humanitarian organization to give a quick response against starvation here in the country and Somalis will always be very grateful to it” the Somali NOC first vice president of international relations told the media on Saturday morning before flying to Nairobi.

About one 1000 draught-displaced people from neighboring regions are daily arriving in Mogadishu where over three hundred thousand people sought refuge for the past several months.

The United Nations said that 3.7 million people about half of the country’s total population are currently in need of emergency humanitarian assistance. Somalia is experiencing the worst draughts for more than ten years and the Al-shabaab aid ban has exacerbated the already poor living conditions in the war-ridden country.

 

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