US offers $14.5 million for Somalia food aid

WASHINGTON: The United States said Friday it is offering nearly $15 million for food for Somalis hit by drought and political unrest.

"The United States has approved a $14.5 million contribution to the World Food Programme to benefit Somalis in need of food assistance," Mark Toner, a State Department spokesman, told reporters.

"The United States is also staging approximately 19,000 metric tons of food aid and it's prepositioning sites worldwide in order to be prepared for additional emergency food assistance in the weeks and the months to come," he added.

He said the United States has already provided around $15 million in food assistance, $23 million in non-food humanitarian aid, and $27 million in development assistance since 2010.

"The United States has been the largest overall donor of humanitarian and food aid to Somalia. Since 1991 the US has provided more than $1 billion in humanitarian assistance to Somalia," he said.

In February, UN official Valerie Amos said drought in Somalia is threatening two million people, the vast majority living in zones controlled by radical Islamist insurgents where it is impossible to send aid.

Copyright AFP (Agence France-Presse), 2011