Six tons of Turkey-donated medical equipment and supplies, along with six fully equipped ambulances, have arrived in Djibouti, the Turkish ambassador to the small Horn of Africa country said yesterday.
According to Ambassador Hasan Yavuz, the six ambulances were sent to Djiboutian Health Ministry officials by the Turkish International Cooperation and Coordination Agency (TİKA), while the medical equipment was sent by the Prime Ministry Disaster and Emergency Management Presidency (AFAD). Both agencies are run by the Turkish government.
In February, Health Minister Mehmet Müezzinoğlu and his Djiboutian counterpart, Kassim Issak Osman, signed a donation agreement in Ankara paving the way for the delivery of the ambulances. Turkey's relations with Djibouti, a country of less than a million people, have developed steadily in recent years, with Turkey opening an embassy in Djibouti in 2012. Djibouti followed suit the following year when it opened its own diplomatic mission in Ankara.
According to Yavuz, the six tons of donated medical equipment is intended for refugees in Djibouti who have recently fled war-torn Yemen.
Yemen has remained in chaos since last September when the Shia Houthi militant group overran the capital --Sanaa.
