Press Release :- Fundraising Event for the Somalia Humanitarian Crisis

“The worst humanitarian crisis in Africa is in Somalia” UN In the past two weeks alone 173,000 people have fled the fighting in the capital city Mogadishu, bringing the total number of displaced people in Somalia to 1,000,000. Many of the people displaced by the current conflict have limited access to shelter, food or clean water. Within Mogadishu, the situation remains unsafe, with street battles, robberies and killings taking place.Scale of Somalia’s humanitarian crisis The ongoing conflict is contributing to an immense humanitarian catastrophe. 10 per cent of the country’s population have been displaced – one million people. Additionally Somalia is also facing a severe drought in the Central Regions where many Internally Displaced People (IDPs) have settled. Over 80% of newly displaced people have concentrated in regions that already face severe problems in terms of food access, collapsing lifelihoods, drought and emergency nutrition levels – resulting in immense strain on host communities. It is estimated that over 2 million Somalis are in need of emergency life-saving assistance. "I've never seen anything like this in Somalia before," Guillermo Bettocchi, representative of the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees, said. "The situation is very severe. It is the most pressing humanitarian emergency in Africa," he told reporters. 1.5 Million People are in Need of Urgent Humanitarian Assistance. “The Humanitarian Crises in Somalia is Worse than Darfur”. “It’s even difficult to find a word to qualify the humanitarian crisis. We are on the eve of a massive, massive humanitarian catastrophe. The situation is rapidly deteriorating”. UNOttawa Somali Community in collaboration with Human Concern International is launching an appeal to help save the lives of the civilian victims in Somalia. Online donations can be made at http://humanconcern.org/urgent_Somalia_Crisis.php.On Saturday May 10th the Ottawa Somali community will be hosting a fundraising dinner at Ridgemont High School, 2597 Alta Vista Drive from 6:00 - 8:00 PM.For more information please contact: Garnayl Abdi, Program AdminstratorHuman Concern International garnayl@humanconcern.org 613-742-5948 Ext 24 Mohamed Dahir or Abdirahman FarahCo-Coordinators of the eventmadahir@yahoo.com, Farahabdalle1@yahoo.ca(613) 797-1980, (613) 889-4073