ERC commits to Dh11m aid for Mali

ABU DHABI // The Emirates Red Crescent will provide Dh11.7 million to education, food and healthcare projects in northern Mali.

The ERC signed agreements on Saturday with several humanitarian organisations to provide support to people in Mali affected by ongoing unrest in the African nation. The projects are aimed at Tuareg tribes in the northern part of the country.

Fahd Abdelrahman bin Sultan, deputy undersecretary for the ERC donations, collection and marketing department, signed the agreements with officials from Unicef, the Norwegian Refugee Council and the UN World Food Programme.

The programme will start “within a few days” and will last nearly a year, said Mr bin Sultan.

Mali’s Tuareg tribes have been involved in years of unrest in a nation affected by ethnic divisions and an extremist insurgency.

“There is an emergency that requires enormous support and the mobilisation of partnerships throughout the world, and we have to attend to the needs of children and mothers there,” said Ourania Dionysiou, a Dubai-based adviser with Unicef, which has been working with the ERC since 2013 in Mali.

She said Unicef will work towards providing immunisation support for children under the age of 5, and provide primary health care to expecting mothers.