By ARAB NEWS
JEDDAH: Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah has ordered all government departments and other related agencies to provide the highest level of services to Umrah pilgrims in Ramadan, which is likely to begin on Aug. 1.
King Abdullah issued the order while chairing the Council of Ministers’ meeting at Al-Salam Palace in Jeddah on Monday.
“The Council of Ministers expressed its deep concern and grief at the continuing deaths of civilians including women and children in the unrest in several Arab countries and called on all parties concerned to let wisdom prevail and start dialogues and reforms so that the dignity and rights of the Arab people are protected,” Minister of Culture and Information Abdul Aziz Khoja said.
Expressing profound pain at the sufferings of the Somali people due to a severe famine compounded by civil war, the council appealed to the international community to take urgent steps to end the humanitarian crisis there. The council urged the Somali militias to bury their differences and stop violence in order to facilitate relief operations, Khoja said.
The council members commended the king’s recent grant of $50 million to provide food to the Somali refugees in collaboration with the World Food Program. This amount is apart from $10 million ordered by the king for medical supplies in collaboration with the World Health Organization. The king had also ordered large quantities of dates to be supplied to the Somali refugees, the minister said.
Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah presides over a Council of Ministers’ meeting at Al-Salam Palace in Jeddah on Monday. (SPA)
Categories: Human Rights, Islam, Middle East, Saudi Arabia
WHILE THIS IS WELCOME THE WORLD FOOD PROGRAM IS POLITICIZING THE FAMINE AND THE RED CROSS AND SOMALUI RED CRESENT HAVE FEEDING CENTRES AND ARE ABLE TO DISTRIBUTE FOOD ALL OVER SOUTHERN SOMALIA WHICH ALSHABAB HAVE NOT STOPPED AGAIN UN IS TRYING TO SCORE POINTS FOR US PLEASE DONATE FURTHER AID TO RED CROSS RED CRESENT I ALSO WORRY SOMALIA MAY MISS OUT ON FAIR AMOUNT IT IS OBVIOUS THAT MUCH MORE WILL NEED TO BE DONE COULD SAUDI ARABIA HOLD A RAMADAN APPEAL FOR SOMALIA AND HOPE MUSLIM COUNTRIES WILL MAKE SOMALIA IN LONG TERM PROJECTS LIKE DESALINATION AND MORE DAMS DROUGHTPROOF HAPPY RAMADAN TO MUSLIMS
Well, a lot of assistance to Somalia from Saudi Charities was stopped due to the US ‘war on terror financing’. Many Saudi Charities just ‘gave up’ trying to continue to prove that they are simply humanitarian… (stated to me by a UN official who knows Somalia better than me).