Turkish Red Crescent distributes food aid in drought-stricken Somalia

The Turkish Red Crescent on Monday delivered at least 4,253 food packages donated by the Turkish government to drought-stricken families in southern Somalia.

The food was distributed by the Turkish Red Crescent and sent by Turkey's Interior Ministry and Emergency Management Presidency (AFAD).

The aid was "distributed to families in need in the drought-stricken Jubaland region Monday through a commission established by the Turkish Embassy in Mogadishu," Orhan Kokcu, head of the Turkish Red Crescent Somalia Delegation, currently paying a humanitarian visit to the port city of Kismayo, Jubaland's administrative capital, told Anadolu Agency over the phone.

He added that the food aid parcels include such key staples as sugar, flour, pasta, rice, and oil.

The distribution comes as a delegation led by Ismail Emre Kosif, Turkrey's charge d'affaires in Somalia, and including senior officials from the Turkish Interior Ministry, as well as Turkish Red Crescent officials arrived in Kismayo and met with Ahmed Mohamed Islam Madobe, the president of Jubaland state.

The meeting discussed the humanitarian situation in Jubaland and the Turkish government's role in delivering aid to the needy in the Horn of Africa country.

Madoobe thanked the government of Turkey for responding to the call to the international community over the ongoing deadly drought in Jubaland.

Facing one of its worst droughts in decades, Somalia has already declared that the country is in a state of humanitarian emergency.