Thursday, November 28, 2013

SOMALIA: Humanitarian air service seeks urgent funding to maintain support


Nairobi - The United Nations Humanitarian Air Service (UNHAS) operation in Somalia is currently facing a funding shortfall with current funding enabling it to continue the service only until the end of January 2014.
The significant size of the humanitarian aid community in Somalia and staff based in neighbouring Kenya, but travelling to Somalia on regular
missions, combined with a precarious security situation, demands a continued and augmented humanitarian air transport capacity.
UNHAS has regular flights to eight locations of which only two are served by domestic commercial airlines that do not yet meet United Nations standards for staff travel.
The UNHAS operation in Somalia transports about 2,300 passengers and 13 metric tons of cargo every month. About 155 humanitarian organizations, as well as the donors and the diplomatic community operating in Somalia, rely on the operation.

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