LONDON (SD) – The government of UK has announced £5 million aid to support starving Somalis in Horn of Africa nation.

In a statement, UK said the fund which will be channelled through the World Food Programme (WFP) is meant to be a life-saving saving support and food assistance for over 130,000 starving people in Somalia.

“Somalia is one of the countries benefiting from this emergency aid – with humanitarian crises worsening around the world. £5m providing life-saving support and good assistance for 139,000 people, through WFP Somalia,” a tweet by UK embassy in Somalia reads.

UK’s Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office also it was releasing the funds which are part of £47 million of aid to immediately provide food, nutrition, water and shelter for vulnerable families in nine countries and regions.

UK said Life-saving food, nutrition, water, childhood vaccinations and shelter will urgently help families caught in some of the largest humanitarian crises, including across the Sahel, Syria, South Sudan, Nigeria, Somalia, Uganda, Zimbabwe, Venezuela and Mozambique.

Office added the coronavirus pandemic, starvation and conflicts have left millions of people across the globe struggling to survive adding that the new funding will go along way in alleviating suffering.

“This extra emergency UK aid will mean people can feed their families and prevent these crises from escalating into widespread famine. We hope to see other donors step up to the plate with some extra funding to prevent these global crises getting worse,” said UK Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab.