Tue Aug 9, 2011 7:13AM GMT
Anisa Osman, a severely malnourished six-month-old Somali girl, rests inside a pediatric ward at Banadir Hospital in Mogadishu on August 7, 2011.
Turkey has sent the first portion of a humanitarian aid convoy to famine-hit Somalia as millions are on the brink of starvation amid a worsening food crisis in the country.
Two Turkish cargo planes carrying food and medical supplies took off from Ankara airport on Monday to take aid to Somali refugees fleeing famine zones in drought-stricken Somalia, Anatolia news agency reported.
"Humanitarian aid will be delivered to Somali people in need with cargo planes and ships," Turkey's Deputy Prime Minister Bekir Bozdag said during a ceremony prior to the departure of the aid planes.
The campaign to help Somali famine refugees had been launched jointly by the Turkish Red Crescent Society, Turkey's Cooperation and Development Agency, and the country's Religious Affairs Directorate General.
The drought and famine have affected more than 11.8 million people across Somalia, Kenya and Ethiopia.
Somalia is hardest-hit by what is described as the worst drought in the Horn of Africa in 60 years.
According to the United Nations, it is estimated that a quarter of Somalia's population of 9.9 million are now either internally displaced or living outside the country as refugees.
The UN has declared famine in five regions in Somalia, warning that the international humanitarian response to the crisis has been insufficient.
Somalia has been without a functioning government since 1991, when warlords overthrew the country's former dictator Mohamed Siad Barre.
Strategically located in the Horn of Africa, Somalia remains one of the countries generating the highest number of refugees and internally displaced persons in the world.
MP/JG/HRF
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