An assistance for the people of the Republic of Somaliland
As Somaliland’s Special Envoy, former World Health Organization Representative and former Minister of Foreign Affairs — as well as in my personal capacity as a healthcare professional, human rights activist and concerned senior citizen — I am sending an urgent appeal to the international community for humanitarian and medical assistance to support Somaliland in its battle against the COVID-19 crisis.
I would like to alert the world of the potentially massive humanitarian emergency and loss of life that COVID-19 might cause in Somaliland because of the deliberate political and economic blockade imposed on us by Somalia, and the resulting suffering and abandonment of our four million inhabitants.
As you may know, former British Somaliland Protectorate gained independence
from Great Britain in June 1960 and then attempted to form a union with its
neighbor, the former Italian Somalia, when that country also became independent.
Sadly, the informal union between the two nations failed due various
incompatibilities and to acts of war and genocide by Somali troops against the civilian population of Somaliland between 1982 and 1991. After Somaliland
reclaimed its rightful independence in 1991, our people restored peace, brought our fellow citizens back from refugee camps and built a stable and democratic government that has demonstrated miraculous achievements during the past 29 years.
Unfortunately, however, our fledgling healthcare system had not yet
acquired the knowledge and experience that could have prepared it for a major
pandemic like COVID-19, which if unchecked, will have dire public health and
humanitarian consequences for the entire region of the Horn of Africa.
If the world fails to extend urgent and direct medical assistance to Somaliland, thousands of our people, as well as many of the large refugee population we host from Syria, Yemen, Ethiopia, Somalia— will die from COVID-19, and all our achievements over the past three decades will be lost. Sadly, given the existing difficult history between Somaliland and Somalia, it is essential that any assistance intended for us be delivered directly to Somaliland through international channels and not via Somalia to ensure that your assistance reaches us intact and as intended.
With regard to the COVID-19, we have no ventilators, no life-saving equipment, and lack the resources and the expertise to ensure that our hospitals can save lives, and that our staff receives the training they need to better care for the sick in the event of major complications or respiratory failure. We have none of the essential supplies needed to diagnose and treat patients, including testing kits, protective gowns, masks, gloves, hand sanitizer, disinfectants, intravenous fluids and other basic hospital supplies. In short, we are helpless in the face of a medical emergency of this magnitude.
To survive, we need your urgent and direct humanitarian assistance and medical expertise.
Thank you for heeding our call.
Dr. Edna Adan Ismail
Somaliland Special Envoy
Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Republic of Somaliland, Hargeisa
Tel: 00252634426922
http://www.somaliland-mission.com/
29/03/2020
In response to this call, Somaliland has received tons of medical supplies from the United Arab Emirates to help in the fight against the deadly COVID 19 virus. The medical supplies arrived in the Somaliland capital Hargeisa on Wednesday morning aboard a huge cargo airline from the middle east nation, and expecting the second shipment on Thursday April 9, 2020
