Somalia: Puntland gets trucks with funds intended to help drought victims

GAROWE, Puntland- The Vice President of Somalia’s semi-autonomous state of Puntland, Abdihakim Haji Omar Amey has revealed that his administration has acquired new trucks with funds intended to help drought-hit communities in Puntland, Garowe Online report.

Vice President Amey returned back to the state capital Garowe on Monday and held a press conference about his participation in the high-level summit on drought in the Somali capital of Mogadishu last week along with officials from the Federal government and international partners.

At the press conference, Amey said that Somali Federal government has donated earlier $ 150,000 for rapid emergency response, but the funds were utilized to acquire 6 trucks to deliver water and food to remote vicinities in the region.

Nomadic communities in Puntland were reported to be in dire need of immediate food supply and medical assistance, amid failure of Puntland government to prioritize assistance delivery rather than acquiring trucks.

On the other hand, the Vice President didn’t detail which agency will be in charge of the new trucks that will deliver humanitarian aid amid concerns of possible misappropriation of the trucks.   

Earlier, Vice President was reported to have given the funds to drought response committee in Puntland, but it was immediately returned back by the order of Puntland President Abdiwali Mohamed Ali “Gaas”.

This comes amid calls by the Somali President Mohamed Abdulahi Mohamed Farmajo to the international partners to double their efforts to avert possible famine crisis in the country.

GAROWEONLINE