The Oman Charitable Organisation (OCO) yesterday dispatched a private ship with Omani aid onboard for the displaced and famine-hit people in Somalia. The ship is carrying aid amounted to more than 1,000 tonnes of medicines, medical equipment, food stuff and shelter materials for the Somalis displaced from famine in the north of the country.
It is scheduled that the Omani Relief Team will head today to the city of Berbera to receive the aid and distribute them at the camps and the hospitals in the northern cities of Somalia. It is worth mentioning here that the Sultanate is always at the forefront of humanitarian and charitable activities. The government, private sector and the public respond with great enthusiasm whenever the need for relief efforts arises in the wake of any event or natural calamity in any part of the world.
The Sultanate’s ongoing aid to Somalia is a case in point. In this context, some points are worth noting. Oman sends aid to all without any strings attached and irrespective of the recipient’s social, ethnic or racial background. Much of Oman’s aid is sent without any propaganda because the Sultanate never likes to show off.
The Sultanate has earlier sent aid to countries like Afghanistan, Pakistan, Lebanon, Palestine, Indonesia, Sri Lanka and Thailand. The Sultanate has built a number of schools in Palestine and has come to the aid of Indonesia and Thailand during Tsunami. In Lebanon, Oman has contributed in building infrastructure, cultural centre and other relief measures. Zanzibar also benefitted from the Sultanate’s aid in the form of schools, mosques and health centres.
Oman has a long history of providing aid to countries and organisations at local, regional and global levels that have been affected by natural disasters. It was heartening to note that OCO had sent 600 tonnes of food supplies to those Libyans who are displaced in their own country and are living as refugees in various camps following some geopolitical changes.
Similarly, Oman has sent aid to Yemen for those people who are living as refugees in camps following the geopolitical changes. In much the same manner, the Sultanate has earlier sent aid to famine-affected areas in Somalia, which is facing the most severe humanitarian crisis in the world. An estimated 3.7 million people in Somalia are on the brink of starvation. More Omani aid for Libya, Yemen and Somalia is in the pipeline.
The Government of Oman and its business community mobilised their resources to send the much needed aid to the quake-affected areas in Japan. Oman donated $10 million to the Japanese Red Cross following a magnitude 9 earthquake and tsunami, which left 27,000 dead or missing and 350,000 people homeless after it swept the country on March 11, 2011.
The Sultanate and its people have always responded wholeheartedly and sent massive aid to Pakistan, Palestine, Indonesia, Japan, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, India and many other parts of the world in the wake of natural disasters or other crises.
- ReliefWeb
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