UAE hosts Somalia humanitarian crisis meeting

Senior UAE Foreign Ministry officials, members of diplomatic corps and resident representatives of UN agencies gathered in Abu Dhabi on Monday to discuss an emergency plan to address the humanitarian situation in Somalia.

UN High Commissioner for Refugees Antonio Guterres told the meeting, which was hosted by the Emirates Centre for Strategic Studies and Research (ECSSR) in coordination with the Foreign Ministry's Department for Foreign and Humanitarian Assistance, that he was confident of the humanitarian role the UAE is playing at regional and international levels and its ability to shoulder responsibilities and support efforts aimed at alleviating suffering of any people enduring an ordeal like the one the Somali people is experiencing now.

UNHCR representatives and a number of experts gave presentations on the dimension of the Somali humanitarian, social and economic crisis.

Speaking at the meeting, Director General of ECSSR Dr. Jamal Al Suwaidi expressed the ECSSR's readiness to put all its research resources at the UN's disposal to help in chalking out crisis management plans for Somalia.