U.N. Chief, Visiting Somalia, Pleads for Aid to Avert Famine
By HUSSEIN MOHAMED and SEWELL CHANMARCH 7, 2017
MOGADISHU, Somalia — The secretary general of the United Nations, António Guterres, arrived in Somalia on Tuesday
and appealed for $825 million in aid to address drought and cholera in the East Africa nation on the brink of famine.
Ahmed Abdi Hassan, the Somali consul general in Aden, Yemen, who was part of a delegation
that welcomed Mr. Guterres, called the visit historic, likening it to one last year by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey, who opened an embassy in Mogadishu and called for deeper ties between the nations.
Mohamed said that The reason Secretary General Guterres came here today is to show support
and solidarity with the Somali people at this time of humanitarian crisis,
At the airport in Mogadishu, Somalia’s capital, Mr. Guterres met with President
Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed, a former prime minister who was elected last month.
"Just last week, 1,352 cases of cholera and 38 people dying — it’s a process in acceleration," he warned.