The Chinese government has provided a grant of US$100,000 to the Somali transitional federal government as emergency assistance for disaster relief in the Horn of Africa country hit hard by tsunami.

The donation was handed on Tuesday by Guo Chongli, China's ambassador to Kenya, to Abdullahi Yusuf Ahmed, president of the transitional federal republic of Somalia, who is based in Kenya's capital Nairobi and preparing to go back to his war-torn country.

Yusuf said he had received the message of sympathy from Chinese President Hu Jintao, which is the first of its kind after Somalia was badly affected by the tsunami.

"We express our sincerest thanks to the Chinese government and the president himself," Yusuf said, adding that he hopes the long-time friendly relations between the two countries will continue.

"China is also the first country to donate money to us. A friend in need is a friend indeed. The Somali people will never forget that China always provides timely assistance whenever Somalia faces difficulties," said Yusuf.

The Somali president reaffirmed Somalia's strong support for the one-China policy, saying there is only one China existing in the world and Taiwan is an inalienable part of China. "Somalia will never change its principled stance on this matter," said Yusuf.

For his part, the ambassador extended condolence of the Chinese government and people to Somalia, which is worst affected by tsunami in Africa.

"We hope the donation will help the affected Somali people overcome difficulties and rebuild their home soon," said Guo.

Up to 200 Somalis were killed and many more are missing after the tsunami disaster. The efforts to assess the full extent of the damage are being hampered by the poor transport and communication networks, which also affect the delivery of emergency relief.

The tidal waves struck the Somali coast late December as the effect of a series of strong undersea Sumatra earthquakes hit the east African coast.

The earthquake, measuring at 8.7 on the Richter Scale, was registered on Dec. 26, 2004, west of the island of Sumatra, triggering tsunamis, or tidal waves, in south and southeast Asia.

At least 160,000 people in Sri Lanka, India, Indonesia, Bangladesh, Maldives, Thailand and Malaysia have been killed in the disaster.

(Xinhua News Agency January 5, 2005)