UAE marks World Refugee Day by sending aid to Burkina Faso

The UAE has sent 100 tonnes of aid to Burkina Faso to mark World Refugee Day.

Under the directive of His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, the aid flight left Dubai International Airport for Ouagadougou on Friday morning.

The assistance includes 88 tonnes of core relief items from UNHCR and 12 tonnes of COVID-19 aid from the World Health Organisation (WHO).

It will aid more than 600,000 people displaced by the emergency in the Central Sahel region.

"Under the direction of His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid, the International Humanitarian City seeks to accommodate, facilitate and assist the people and organisations who serve those in need, so that they may work together, as one force, for the betterment of humanity,” said Mohammed Ibrahim Al Shaibani, Chairman of the Supreme Committee for the Supervision of International Humanitarian City (IHC).

The UNHCR Global Stockpile, based in the IHC warehouses in Dubai, offers a strategic option to deliver urgently needed aid by air to support emergency operations around the world. 

.@HHShkMohd marks World Refugee Day by ordering an aid flight to support the delivery of urgent humanitarian assistance from UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, to Burkina Faso.https://t.co/7IQUry5ozI pic.twitter.com/tG1xOnUEog

— Dubai Media Office (@DXBMediaOffice) June 19, 2020