CRI听力:China donates 2,800 tons of rice to Somalia

The Chinese government has donated 2,800 tons of rice to Somalia to help the drought-ravaged African country.

The donation is part of a massive food aid program Chinese authorities have mapped-out for countries involved in the Belt and Road Initiative.

Chinese authorities say the rice, which arrived in the Somali capital Mogadishu on Tuesday, should be able to feed more than 220,000 hungry people for up to four months.

Chinese state-owned COFCO, China's biggest food producer, is the supplier of the rice.

Somalia has been suffering through its worst drought in 40 years for the past eight months.

Thanking China, Somali Minister of Humanitarian and Disaster Management, Maryam Qaasim, admits her country still needs a lot more help.

"All of us work together - whether it's the Somali government, whether it's the Somali diaspora, the donors, the UN agencies - everybody came together and we worked very hard to avert famine. Yes, we averted famine but famine is not very far. If we don't sustain what we have done, famine can come any time."

The Chinese government has authorized the United Nations to be in charge of the donated rice.

Edith Heines is Deputy Country Director of the UN World Food Program in Somalia.

"Our colleagues on the ground who are working around the clock so that this rice will be distributed to our cooked-meal centers in Banadir, where they will reach 95,000 people each month for three months."

The rice donation comes a month after Chinese authorities earmarked one million US dollars to help Somali families who have been forced out of their homes due to the drought.

The United Nations is reporting some 760,000 people have become refugees within Somalia since the drought first began last November.

The effects of the natural disaster are also being compounded by the long-standing armed conflict in the country.

Last month, Somali jihadist group Al-Shabaab imposed a ban on humanitarian aid in areas under its control, forcing hundreds of thousands of civilians to choose between starvation or brutal punishment.

Gerard Waite, head of the UN-affiliated International Organization for Migration, says the displaced population is a growing concern.

"Migration crisis in a sense in Somalia really doesn't come to an end. The newly displaced — the people who have been displaced at the moment — are vying for space for those who still remain displaced from 2010-2011 drought. Those currently being displaced by conflict and particularly the al-Shabaab conflict are competing for space and resources in the same camps and the same settlements that are receiving the drought victims."

Somalia is one of the more than 70 countries involved in the Belt and Road Initiative.

Chinese authorities announced a 300-million-US-dollar emergency food assistance plan for countries covered by the initiative during the Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation held in Beijing in May.

China officially established its first overseas military base in Somalia's neighboring Djibouti last month, with part of its mission to facilitate humanitarian aid into Africa.