Mohammad orders aid flight to Burkina Faso
Assistance includes 88 tonnes of relief items for displaced and 12 tonnes of Covid-19 aid
An Emirates cargo plane carrying 100 tonnes of aid left Dubai for Ouagadougou, the capital of Burkina Faso, yesterday.
The aid flight was ordered by His Highness Shaikh Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, to mark World Refugee Day.
The aid includes 88 tonnes of relief items for displaced people from UNHCR, the UN refugee agency, and 12 tonnes of Covid-19 aid from the World Health Organisation (WHO).
The cargo includes essential kits of medicines and medical supplies in addition to protective equipment for medical staff combating the pandemic.
UNHCR recently declared an emergency in the central Sahel region for the protection and assistance of more than 600,000 internally displaced people, a number that is at risk of growing significantly in the coming weeks.
Mohammad Ebrahim Al Shaibani, chairman of the Supreme Committee for the Supervision of International Humanitarian City (IHC), said:
“Under the direction of His Highness Shaikh Mohammad Bin Rashid, IHC seeks to accommodate, facilitate and assist the people and organisations who serve those in need, so that they may work together, as one force, for the betterment of humanity.”
The UNHCR Global Stockpile, based in IHC warehouses in Dubai, offers a strategic option to deliver urgently needed aid by air to support emergency operations around the world in general and particularly in Africa. UNHCR is planning to move 24,200 plastic tarps from the stockpile. The humanitarian cargo will provide significant assistance to the displaced people in the Sahel Region.
Special way
“UNHCR is proud of its strategic partnership with IHC in Dubai and appreciates this airlift,” said Nadia Jbour, head of the UNHCR office in the UAE. “This contribution is very timely, especially in the context of the pandemic and the lean season. It will support UNHCR’s response to the massive displacement driven by armed violence against civilians in Sahel region that hosts more than three million refugees, internally displaced persons and returnees.”
Giuseppe Saba, CEO of IHC, said: “We are proud to celebrate World Refugee Day in this special way together with UNHCR and WHO.”
Under the direction of His Highness Shaikh Mohammad Bin Rashid, IHC seeks to accommodate, facilitate and assist the people and organisations who serve those in need, so that they may work together, as one force, for the betterment of humanity.”
Ebrahim Al Shaibani | Chairman of the Supreme Committee for the Supervision of IHC