Saudi's King Salman Centre launches $40 million humanitarian projects in Somalia

The King Salman Humanitarian Aid and Relief Centre (KS relief) on Sunday launched a $40 million humanitarian project in Somalia that will directly benefit nearly six million individuals by boosting healthcare, education, the environmental sector, water and food.

The launching ceremony in Mogadishu was attended by Prime Minister Hamza Abdi Barre, Advisor to King Salman Bin Abdulaziz and also the Supervisor General of KS relief Dr Abdallah Al Rabeeah as well as other senior Saudi and Somalia officials including ministers and ambassadors.

In his keynote speech, PM Hamza thanked Saudi Arabia and in particular KS relief for their timely support to the people of Somalia at a time when the people needed the support most.

“This project will hugely help ease the social needs of our people on health, education and water which are some of the most basic needs our people need. I would like to commend the approach adopted by the King Salman Centre for Relief and Charity to align the immediate humanitarian responses with long-term resilient programs through infrastructure investment in the sectors of health, education, food aid and water,” the PM said.

He said the project will not only help millions of beneficiaries in dire need of humanitarian aid but will also boost local farmers and businesses since the project plans to outsource all their funds locally in Somalia in a bid to help farmers get markets for their products.

"This project adopted approaches that are aimed at supporting the local economy by sourcing the food to be distributed from local markets. This move will achieve two key objectives - speed and efficiency - of delivering the food aid. This will directly contribute to the local economy. It will help local producers by reducing the overflow of foreign products into the markets,” the PM added.

Key partner

Dr Abdallah said Saudi Arabia is a key partner in Somalia and that the new project will address the critical needs of the Somali people.

“Today’s humanitarian project launch signifies the strong ties between the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and Somalia, fostered through mutual respect between our leaderships. The King Salman Humanitarian Aid and Relief Centre is happy to provide humanitarian support to our Somali brothers,” he said.

The total amount of aid provided by Saudi Arabia to Somalia until the end of 2023 reached $423 million, of which the centre contributed around $227 million to implement 106 projects.

Saudi Arabia is one of the biggest donors in Somalia and is a bigger contributor to the Somalia security sector.

According to the UN, 8.3 million Somalia people need urgent humanitarian aid including 1.5 million acutely malnourished children below five years.

The country has been devastated by recurring droughts and floods with the people’s suffering further compounded by conflicts and displacements.

Somalia and Saudi Arabia enjoy a long-standing relationship. The two countries last year signed a new general cooperation agreement encompassing multiple bilateral ties including economic, security, cultural and political areas.

Saudi Arabia has also been keen to enhance its cooperation with African countries. The first Saudi Arabia – Africa Summit was held in Riyadh in November last year in which memorandums of understanding and development loan agreements were signed between the oil-rich Kingdom and a dozen African countries through the Saudi Fund for Development (SDF).