Turkey to deliver 15,000 tons of aid to Somalia

Turkey is planning to deliver 15,000 tons of humanitarian aid to Somalia during the holy month of Ramadan, Deputy Foreign Minister Ahmet Yildiz said Thursday.

Somalia is one of several African states facing famine due to drought.

"The hunger threat has repeated in sub-Saharan Africa, notably in the Horn of Africa, was caused by a new drought," Yildiz said at the opening of an event sponsored by Turkey, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs and the UN Development Program.

"We, as Turkey, have started a national donation campaign for hunger crisis in the Horn of Africa and Yemen led by our president, similar to the one we did in 2011.

"We are planning to deliver 15,000 tons of humanitarian aid materials to various areas of Somalia during Ramadan."

The drought has hit 11 of Somalia's 18 regions, including the worst-affected Bay region.

The deputy minister added that Turkey's annual humanitarian aid budget had risen from around $85 million a decade ago to $6 billion last year.

"According to 2015 data, our country became the most generous donor country in the world when the ratio of official humanitarian aid is considered according to national income," he said.