Iranian ship carrying aid docks at Mogadishu seaport

An Iranian ship carrying aid food arrived and docked at Mogadishu international harbor earlier this week to help famine victims in Somalia.The ship is carrying food aid weighing 5000 tons and the contents included rice, flour, spaghetti, cooking oil and tents to help the famine displaced people. Somalia's Foreign Minister Mohamed Mohamud Ibrahim Hajji and the country's national disaster agency were handed the aid from the Islamic republic of Iran. The minister said the aid will be distributed to deserved needy people in Mogadishu IDPs camps. The ambassador of Iran to Somalia talked to the media on the eve of the aid being handed to the Somali government officials and said it is the first aid Iran sent Somalia through the sea. He said that 17 airplanes carrying aid from Iran had earlier landed at Mogadishu to support famine victims. Meantime, Iran on Monday provided Somalia with new hospital and surgery equipment as part of its plans for increasing medical assistance to the famine-hit African state. According to FNA correspondent in Mogadishu, the new medical tools and equipment were handed to the Somali officials during the recent visit to Mogadishu by a team of Iran's Red Crescent Society (IRCS). The equipment included sonogram, oxygen conditioner, recovery bags, surgery and stitching devices, an electrocardiograph, a radiography unit, suction device, an electric shocker, drug shelves and containers, artificial respiration pipes, CPR kits and hospital beds. The medical devices will be used in Somalia's Medina and Red Crescent hospitals. Iran's move came days after the Somali foreign minister demanded Tehran to provide his drought-stricken country with further medical aid and training. Ibrahim made the remarks in a meeting with officials of Iran's Red Crescent Society (IRCS) in Mogadishu. He further thanked the several humanitarian aid cargos dispatched by Iranian officials and people to his country, and said his government has set up a special committee to accelerate distribution of the sent items among the needy and the poor in Somalia. The Iranian Red Crescent has so far sent 5 medical teams to Somalia to help the famine-stricken people of the African country. The last team was sent to the African country in mid October and is due to stay in the country until the end of this month. IRCS has recently inaugurated a central clinic in Mogadishu to help the drought and famine-stricken people of the country. It had earlier erected 6 medical camps in Somalia. The Islamic Republic of Iran was among the first countries which rushed to the aid of the Somali people and it has dispatched over 14 aid cargos to the African nation thus far.