The government of Egypt is in talks with Somalia on water management aid for the drought-stricken country as Cairo builds up its influence in the Horn of Africa.
Egypt hosted a Somali delegation led by Minister of Agriculture and Irrigation Said Hussein at Cairo Water Week, an annual event to discuss policies for water-scarce nations on water management and strategic planning.
The talks involve Egyptian support for Somalia to build dams and develop irrigation systems in the Horn of Africa country, which is ravaged by drought. Hussein said Somalia was looking forward to enrolling more Somalis in the training courses organized by Egypt’s Regional Training Center for Water Resources and Irrigation and the National Water Research Center.
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Somalia is one of the worst affected countries by climate change, with erratic rainfall, extreme temperature and prolonged droughts. The country’s average temperatures are some of the hottest in the world, interrupted by brief rainy seasons. The Somali economy is predominantly agricultural.
Rainfall in Somalia is low, with the annual average ranging from 215 milimeters in the northeastern regions to approximately 550 milimeters in the southern and central regions. Somali Ambassador to Egypt Elias Sheikh Omar said his country was looking for Arab and African support to deal with its drought crisis.
“Somalia desires stronger relations with Egypt, particularly in the fields of agriculture and fisheries to serve the interests of both the Egyptian and Somali peoples. The two countries can cooperate on building dams for harvesting rainwater, building wells, establishing modern irrigation networks, establishing laboratories to analyze water quality and forecast rainfall and training Somali engineers in water management, especially modern irrigation methods with a view to developing Somali agriculture,” said the diplomat.