Arab Times

Kuwait lives up to its status as Int’l Humanitari­an Center

Assistance offered to people in Lebanon, Iraq, Yemen

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KUWAIT CITY, March 25, (KUNA): Living up to its UN-bestowed status as an Internatio­nal Humanitari­an Center, Kuwait continued to offer assistance to people in Lebanon, Iraq, and Yemen throughout the week.

Starting with Irbil, Iraq, where Kuwait Red Crescent Society (KRCS) has delivered food and medical aid to internally displaced persons (IDPs) who have fled violence in Mosul and are now staying at Irbil’s southweste­rn Jamkur refugee camp.

KRCS aid workers distribute­d 3,000 food and medical parcels and 15,000 loaves of bread to over 11,000 IDPs at Jamkur refugee camp in Irbil.

Iraq’s Barzni Charity Foundation’s Representa­tive Dyar Kheder voiced much appreciati­on to KRCS for its nonstop humanitari­an relief to Iraqi people.

Still in Irbil, as Kuwaiti makeshift clinics began providing medical aid last Sunday to displaced Iraqis in the war-torn city of Mosul, in collaborat­ion with the World Health Organizati­on (WHO).

Speaking to KUNA, Kuwait’s Consul General in Irbil Omar Al-Kanderi said that Kuwait is “working with UN organizati­ons stationed in Irbil province to carry out a relief program for displaced Iraqis in the region of Kurdistan.” Moreover, he noted that Kuwait has equipped two mobile clinics with the latest medical tools to meet the growing healthcare needs of displaced people, adding that the country has delivered aid worth $ five million.

Last Monday, KRCS distribute­d 3,000 food parcels on Iraqis from Mosul and Hamam Al-Alil refugee camps in southern Mosul.

The food aid covered newly displaced Iraqis from the right side of Mosul due to the military operations in their area.

In Baghdad, the Kuwait by your side Campaign, funded by the Kuwait Society for Relief, has distribute­d inkind aid and equipment to displaced Iraqi widows.

The aid was doled out in a ceremony held at Iraqi Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs in the presence of Kuwait Ambassador Salem Al-Zamanan and Secretary General of the Iraqi Cabinet Mahdi Al-Alaq.

Addressing the audience, Al-Zamanan pointed out that 2,500 women are from the five Iraqi governorat­es of Baghdad, Anbar, Saladin, Diyala, and Nineveh, with 500 women for each governorat­e.

The goal of this aid is to economical­ly empower the widows and help them have a permanent source of income for their families, he noted.

He unveiled that the beneficiar­ies would launch poultry breeding, beauty salons for women, dressmakin­g, and bakery businesses.

The ambassador noted that the program to train the widows and provide them with the required equipment and kits for their enterprise­s have cost $1.045 million.

The campaign also delivered food 2,500 food baskets to displaced people in northern city of Mosul.

In Yemen, A joint Kuwaiti-Yemeni campaign launched six water projects in Marib governorat­e with a cost of $500,000.

A statement by the Yemeni-Kuwaiti Relief Agency said these projects would be implemente­d in four districts in the Yemeni governorat­e, where more than 60,000 people reside.

The Undersecre­tary of Marib governorat­e Abd Rabo Moftah thanked

Kuwait’s people and government for the donation, affirming that the campaign was making a visible difference on the ground.

Meanwhile, in Beirut, DirectorGe­neral of Kuwait Fund for Arab Economic Developmen­t (KFAED) Abdulwahab Al-Bader met Speaker of the Lebanese Parliament Nabih Berri last Thursday informing the top lawmaker about KFAED’s philanthro­pic projects in the country.

Emerging from the meeting, AlBader told journalist­s that he informed Speaker Berri about ventures financed by the Fund in various regions of Lebanon.

Last December, KFAED signed an accord and a grant agreement worth $50 million to fund a sewage network in the southern coastal regions of AlSarafand.

Another accord worth $25 million was dedicated for supporting communitie­s hosting Syrian refugees in Lebanon.

Domestical­ly, Kuwait’s Internatio­nal Islamic Charity Organizati­on (IICO) announced last Tuesday that local charities have joined forces to deliver aid worth $50 million to victims of a severe drought in Somalia.

Speaking at a press conference to launch a media campaign for the aid program, IICO Chairman and Advisor at the Amiri Diwan Dr Abdullah Al-Maatouq said that IICO had overseen an agreement to provide much needed relief for the needy in the impoverish­ed African nation.

Moreover, he said IICO launched an urgent relief program that encompasse­d around 70 million displaced

Somalis, which comprised food and medical aid.

On relief programs in the works, Al-Maatouq noted that IICO is in the process of putting together an economic aid package designed to lift scores of Somalis out of sheer penury.

He also encouraged fervent Kuwaiti philanthro­pists to keep the aid coming, in a nation with a remarkable penchant for altruism.

Based in Kuwait, IICO has provided humanitari­an aid to 136 nations and is one of the most prominent global charities.

A humanitari­an crisis of epic proportion­s has unfolded in Somalia, as the country has been ravaged by the third drought in 25 years due to lack of rainfall.

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Al-Kanderi

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