Ethiopia: Turkish aid agency doles out food to IDPs

ADDIS ABABA

Turkey’s state-run aid agency on Friday doled out food to internally displaced people in Gelan town on the outskirts of the capital Addis Ababa.

Gelan town hosts more than 4,000 people, who were displaced more than a year ago due to ethnic conflict in Jijiga town in the Somali regional state.

The food items distributed among 800 families by the Turkish Cooperation and Coordination Agency (TIKA) include rice, edible oil, flour and dates.

“We are pleased to be with you at this time of Ramadan,” Yaprak Alp, Turkish ambassador to Ethiopia, told displaced people at their camp -- a large area filled with small corrugated iron houses.

Feria Abdi, a mother of three children, told Anadolu Agency that the donation would help them cope with food shortage throughout the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.

“We get a monthly 15 kilograms (33 pounds) of grains per person but we sell half of it to buy other necessities; so food is always in short supply here,” Abdi said.

Mustafa Mohammed Yusuf, the IDPs’ community elder, thanked TIKA for making the donation.

“We received same donation from TIKA last year and we are grateful for the help,” he said.

Mohammed Sheikh Ali, head of a family of five, told Anadolu Agency that the IDPs community also suffered from shortage of blankets and mattresses.

TIKA is active in Ethiopia providing both humanitarian and development support.

The Turkish agency restored the ancient Al Nejashi Mosque in the north of the country and renovated an early 20th century Turkish Consulate in Harar in eastern Ethiopia, among other development and relief efforts.