Turkey dispatches more aid to Somalia

A third Turkish cargo plane took humanitarian supplies to famine-hit Somalia on Thursday as donations to fundraising campaigns for Africa exceeded 40 million Turkish Liras.

The plane left Ankara for Mogadishu, the Somali capital, carrying 40 tons of food and medicine. Two other Turkish aid planes had flown to Somalia on Monday.

Donations to fundraising campaigns organized by the prime minister’s office and the Religious Affairs Directorate totaled 42.1 million liras as of Wednesday afternoon, officials said.

In a related development, a Parliament member from the ruling Justice and Development Party, or AKP, Murtaza Yetiş, flew to Kenya late Wednesday as part of a medical team from Doctors Worldwide, a U.K.-based charity organization with a branch in Turkey.

Yetiş, a doctor by profession, said the team would visit camps sheltering Somali refugees to assess needs and better organize assistance.

Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan is planning to go to Somalia this month, together with Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu and their family members. He will be the first foreign leader to travel to the country since Uganda’s president visited in November.


/Hurriyet Daily News/