29,000 Somali children under 5 die in famine
The United Nations has said previously that tens of thousands of people have died in the drought, the worst in Somalia in 60 years. The UN says 640,000 Somali children are acutely malnourished, a statistic that suggests the death toll of small children will rise.
Nancy Lindborg, an official with the US government aid arm USAID, told a congressional committee in Washington that the US estimates more than 29,000 children under the age of 5 have died in the last 90 days in southern Somalia. That number is based on nutrition and mortality surveys verified by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The UN has declared three new regions in Somalia famine zones, bringing the total number to five. Out of a population of roughly 7.5 million, the UN says 3.2 million Somalis are in need of immediate lifesaving assistance.
Getting aid to Somalia is difficult because al-Qaida- linked militants control much of the country’s most desperate areas. Al-Shabab has denied that a famine is taking place, and won’t give access to the World Food Programme, the world’s biggest provider of food aid.
Tens of thousands of refugees have fled south- central Somalia in the hope of finding food at camps in Ethiopia, Kenya and in Mogadishu, the Somali capital.
Hundreds of millions of euro have been donated to fight the hunger crisis, but the UN says it needs hundreds of millions more.
The continuing lack of rain means the crisis will only deepen, with the rest of southern Somalia to reach famine levels within six weeks, the UN’s Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said.
UN humanitarian coordinator for Somalia Mark Bowden has called on “all parties to support an urgent scale up of assistance so that we can save the lives of those who most need our support at this critical moment”.
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