Chinese Government donates $10 million to WFP for drought relief in Somalia

On April 26 2017, according to Xinhua, China granted the World Food Program (WFP) $10 million to bolster its humanitarian mission in Somalia that helps 6 million people in food insecure conditions because of drought (UNOCHA: Financial Tracking Service Flow ID: 157185 and 157187). Laurent Bukera, WFP Director in Somalia, said the funds will allow the UN food agency to deploy emergency humanitarian assistance to more than 200,000 people. The handover ceremony took place on April 26th, 2017 and it seems that the grant is at least in part consisting of physical humanitarian equipment such as tents, mosquito nets, and water tanks. On June 5 2017, China shipped a batch of rice weighing 2,821.75 tons from Shanghai to Somalia, which is reportedly financed by the cash donation captured in this project. The rice, distributed by WFP, would support hundreds of thousands of Somalis in need of food assistance after a severe drought hit the country. According to Xinhua News, in May 2017 China committed to provide food assistance at the Belt and Road Forum in Beijing and shortly after began shipping food to Somalia. According to the WFP, they procured and began shipping the rice in June and then on August 1 2017, the Chinese embassy in Somalia reported that the rice arrived in Mogadishu.

Number of official sources

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