AP

UNHCR workers offload boxes, part of a 32-ton consignment of essential items that arrived at Mogadishu International Airport on Saturday. Aid from SA will arrive today.

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A South African military aircraft will deliver 18 tons of supplies to famine victims in Somalia this week, aid group Gift of the Givers said yesterday.

The C130 Hercules aircraft would deliver essential food and anti-malaria medication to Mogadishu today, said chairman Imtiaz Sooliman.

Department of International Relations and Co-operation spokesman Clayson Monyela said the SA National Defence Force (SANDF) would be delivering the supplies for free.

This is Gift of the Givers sixth flight to the region. The fifth flight landed on Saturday.

“It is heartening to note that Mogadishu civil aviation granted Gift of the Givers landing rights in less than 5 minutes of receipt of paperwork.

“(This was done) in appreciation of our continuous support to the suffering thousands in Somalia.”

Sooliman said Gift of the Givers were discussing the possibility of more flights with local and Somali government officials.

The famine in Somalia has killed tens of thousands of people, with more than 12 million in need of food aid in the Horn of Africa.

UK-based charity Oxfam official Irungu Houghton said that the aid coming from the South African government was not enough, given the country’s more stable economic status.

“Most African governments are yet to make a decent contribution and show the true meaning of African solutions to African problems,” he said.

But Monyela said criticism of South Africa’s response to the disaster was unfair.

“We do not understand how people can criticise us while our aid mission is still going on,” he said. – Sapa