Egypt has become the latest African country to assist Somalia as it battles with food crisis. Cairo has donated several tonnes of supplies and medical aid to the East African nation.

With nearly half of the country's population in need of food, humanitarian agencies are warning that the country might slide into famine. Egypt is the latest to join other countries to help avert a possible famine in Somalia by donating humanitarian and medical aid. 

The Egyptian C-130 military plane landed at the Mogadishu international airport with Egyptian authorities saying that this is the first of many consignments that will arrive in the capital, home to hundreds of thousands of internally displaced persons.

China has donated 10 million US dollars to the UN World Food Programme. 

Mogadishu says its priority is addressing the humanitarian crisis but has vowed to launch a nationwide offensive against Al Qaeda linked militants Al-Shabaab. Egypt has in the past months assisted Somalia's military by donating vehicles and weapons to newly-trained Somali commandos. The country is still facing a two-decade-long arms embargo and is currently in no position to strengthen its military might. The government wants Al-Shabaab eliminated within two years, but the group continues to carry out deadly bombings across the capital.

However, in the just-concluded London conference for Somalia, President Mohamed Abdullahi Farmajo told world leaders that he wanted a strong formidable army in place by the end of the year, and to achieve this he asked for the lifting of an arms embargo that would allow him to equip and better train his troops as they plan to take over the security of Somalia from African Union forces.