A Turkish foundation has sent packages of essential food aid to thousands of drought-stricken residents of Somalia.The Turkey Diyanet Foundation, a group affiliated with the Presidency of Religious Affairs (DİB, better known as Diyanet), has distributed 1,500 packages of food aid to needy families in the Shirwac, Arra'ad and Togdheer regions of Somaliland, an autonomous region of the Horn of Africa country, the group said in a statement yesterday.The foundation plans to send aid to more than 5,500 families in Somali cities such as Mogadishu, Garbaharrey, Bardera, Bosaso, Qardho and Baidoa, the statement added. The foundation's goal is to reach 18,000 needy families in Somalia, Kenya, Ethiopia and South Sudan.Thirty-seven children in the region, most suffering from growth retardation, have also been treated, according to Mesut Sezikli, a volunteer doctor. Sezikli stated that there is an urgent need for pediatric vitamin pills. According to a United Nations report, nearly 950,000 Somali children under the age of 5 "will be acutely malnourished this year." The Somali government has called the famine a looming national disaster.