BEIRUT: A shipment of aid from Lebanon to famine-struck Somalia arrived in Mogadishu Friday and a Lebanese delegation has handed the much-needed supplies to local authorities.

The humanitarian assistance includes 1350 food ration packs each containing rice, sugar, baby milk and flour weighing 25 kilograms per share. A further 2.5 tons of medical supplies were also sent as part of the aid.

Some 3.7 million Somalis are at risk of starvation in the worst drought the country has seen in decades.

The Lebanese delegation arrived in Mogadishu Friday and, under the guidance of Prime Minister Najib Mikati, released the aid to local authorities.

The Lebanese aid shipment to Somalia was undertaken under the auspices of the government’s Higher Relief Committee along with the Health Ministry and the Zakat Fund of Dar al-Fatwa. Riad Itani, responsible for charitable donations at Dar al-Fatwa, along with representatives from the HRC and the ministry were on the flight that landed at the airport in Mogadishu.

Meeting the delegation at the capital’s airport, Deputy Minister of Constitution and Federal Affairs Suleiman Ibrahim expressed his government’s gratitude for the assistance.

“This is a major crisis, many people in different states have been affected,” Ibrahim said.

Ibrahim, who was accompanied by Ayman Aabed from the Islamic Relief Committee in Somalia, said many countries had offered assistance but that more was needed, especially the need to place a relief plan for those affected by the famine.

Ibrahim singled Lebanon out among the first Arab country to offer assistance and expressed thanks to Prime Minister Najib Mikati.

Aabed also expressed his thanks to the Lebanese government and said the aid would be distributed outside the capital, as refugees arriving in Mogadishu had been provided shelter in refugee camps. He said, “However, outside the capital, the aid is being distributed to the western and southern provinces.”

For his part, Mohammad Mamlouk, the head of the Lebanese General Foreign Coordinating Committee said: “Under the guidance of Prime Minister Najib Mikati this assistance was donated to the Somali people and it consists of 36 tons of food and medical supplies.”

Dar al-Fatwa’s Itani said the Zakat Fund had “prepared the food for our brothers in Somalia under the auspices of Grand Mufti Sheikh Mohammad Rashid Qabbani and under the guidance of Prime Minister Najib Mikati.”

Itani promised that more assistance would be sent.