UNICEF: Clay in Somalia, Asks World "Not To Forget"

Clay is currently on an UNICEF trip to the African nation of Somalia, his latest trip abroad for the UN organization. He is using his goodwill ambassador status to once again to remind us "not to forget" about children living in poverty. Clay told OK! Magazine via Thomson Reuters:

There hasn't been much discussion of Somalia since the early 1990s in the U.S. In the lower part of the country, southern part, I feel it's a more desperate situation than any place we've ever been. In Somaliland, you really do have a sense of people who really want to help themselves, who want to do better, who want to effect change for themselves, that is very hopeful.

Reuters.com has a full wire story about Clay trip:

U.S. pop star Clay Aiken appealed on Wednesday for the world not to forget Somalia, where conflict and hunger have created one of the world's worst humanitarian crises.

Aiken said U.S. and international interest in Somalia had been minimal since failed military intervention in the early 1990s.

"There hasn't been much discussion of Somalia since the early 1990s in the U.S.," said Aiken, a U.N. goodwill ambassador, on a visit to Somalia. "The American population kind of got a bad taste of Somalia in the early 90's and hasn't really had much interest in the country since."

Somalia has suffered relentless civil conflict since the 1991 toppling military dictator Mohamed Siad Barre.

[...]

Aiken, 29, who was travelling on behalf of U.N. children's agency UNICEF, was in Somaliland, a relatively peaceful northern enclave of Somalia that has declared itself independent but not been recognised internationally.

On Sunday, July 6 at 8 PM EDT, both the US and international CNN networks will air a UNICEF special titled "The Survival Project: One Child at a Time". "CNN will explore why 26,000 children die every day from preventable causes, and what UNICEF doing to save young lives."