Somali famine: Turkish PM Erdogan visits Mogadishu
Baku, August 19 (AZERTAC). Turkey`s Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his wife have arrived in Somalia`s capital to highlight the need for greater famine relief.
It is a rare visit by an international leader to Mogadishu, which has been devastated by years of fighting.
A plane with a delegation accompanying Mr Erdogan had a narrow escape when a wing touched the runway as it landed, the Turkish news agency Anatolia says.
East Africa is suffering from its worst drought in 60 years.
The UN estimates that some 12 million people have been affected.
Somalia, where five districts have been suffering from famine, has been worst hit. Much of the country is controlled by the Islamist al-Qaeda-linked al-Shabab group, which has banned many aid agencies from its territory.
Foreign visitors to Mogadishu are a rarity, but since al-Shabab recently made what it called a tactical withdrawal from the capital, a few international politicians have come to see for themselves the thousands of famine victims pouring into the city.
Mr Erdogan is the most high-profile figure so far to visit Mogadishu, which is now controlled by the weak interim government and by a 9,000-strong African Union force (Amisom).
Correspondents say Turkish flags are flying at the airport, the port and on one of the capital`s main thoroughfares.
He travelled through the city in a bullet-proof car, in contrast to the armoured personnel carrier usually used by Somalia`s President Sheikh Sharif Ahmed.
Mr Erdogan said Turkey would open an embassy in Mogadishu to help distribute aid for famine victims.
His trip comes days after Turkey and other Muslim countries pledged $350m (£212m) for famine relief.
Turkey has not only sent food and medical aid to Somalia, but has raised $115m from the Turkish public.
Mr Erdogan, who is accompanied by his wife, daughter and an entourage consisting of cabinet members and their families, will observe the distribution of Turkish aid in the internally displaced people`s camps.
Meanwhile, the UN is warning of an outbreak of cholera among Somali famine victims.
One hospital in Mogadishu has registered more than 4,000 victims.
"The situation at the moment is pretty critical," said Nancy Balfour of the UN children`s agency, Unicef.
Ms Balfour said she feared that there were many more cases in the interior of Somalia, which Unicef was having difficulty in reaching.
Before the main cholera season had even started in October, the conditions are already in place for cholera to spread rapidly, she said.
More than 100,000 people have arrived in Mogadishu in the last two months in search of food.
The UN says 3.2 million people - almost half the population - are in need of immediate life-saving assistance in Somalia, which has been wracked by civil war for two decades.
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