Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi made the announcement on Monday during a telephone conversation with his Somali counterpart, Abdisaid Muse Ali, and this Wednesday the Chinese representation here corroborated it.

The assistance is a practical step towards implementing the Horn of Africa Peace and Development Perspective, an initiative presented by the Chinese authorities earlier this year.

Its main objective, Yi said, is to collaborate with the region’s governments, without meddling in their affairs, “to jointly address the triple challenges of security, development and governance, and achieve lasting peace, stability, development and prosperity.”

To strengthen communication and coordination with the countries and push forward the implementation of that project, China appointed a special envoy for the area’s affairs last week and will soon start work, he added.

The region is suffering one of the worst droughts in at least 40 years. In Ethiopia, Kenya and Somalia, three of the nations in the area, some 14 million citizens are suffering from food insecurity, of whom some 5.5 million are children.

This East African region, one of the poorest in the world, is made of Ethiopia, Somalia, Djibouti and Eritrea, although some sources often include Kenya, Sudan, South Sudan and Uganda as well.

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