The ban on Somali chilled meat exports to the United Arab Emirates (UAE) has been officially lifted. Humanitarian sources confirmed that the Technical Committee of the General Secretariat of UAE Municipalities had officially lifted the ban, which was imposed on all livestock products after an outbreak of Rift Valley fever in Saudi Arabia and Yemen last September.

Since the ban was lifted last week, about 32 tonne s of chilled meat had been exported from Galkayo in the self-declared autonomous region of Puntland, northeastern Somalia, and from abattoirs in Mogadishu, humanitarian sources said.