EU provides 63 million euros for life-saving health and nutrition services in Somalia

The European Union will provide some 63 million euros ($74.39 million) in humanitarian funding for Somalia, it said on Thursday.

The country has been hit by fighting between Somali armed forces and al-Shabaab militants, as well as by droughts.

The EU said its funding would prioritise life-saving health and nutrition services.

The EU said this latest aid package would mean it had provided more than 750 million euros in humanitarian aid to Somalia since 2017.

The United Nations World Food Programme said earlier in February that its life-saving food and nutrition assistance in Somalia could end by April unless new funding was secured.

The EU did not specify when this aid would be provided.

($1 = 0.8469 euros)

-Reporting by Sudip Kar-Gupta; editing by Barbara Lewis/Reuters