UN declares three new famine zones in Somalia
The UN’s food arm said that famine is likely to spread across all regions of Somalia’s south in the next four to six weeks. Famine conditions are likely to persist until December, the Food and Agriculture Organisation said.
Across Somalia, 3.7 million people are in crisis, the UN says, out of a population of 7.5 million. The UN says 3.2 million are in need of immediate, lifesaving assistance.
The UN said acute malnutrition and rates of crude mortality surpassed the famine thresholds in areas of Middle Shabelle, the Afgoye corridor refugee settlement and displaced communities in Mogadishu. The UN last month said two regions in Somalia were suffering from famine.
Somalia is suffering its worst drought in 60 years. Getting aid to the country has been difficult because al-Qaida linked militants control many of the most desperate areas.
“Despite increasedattention in recent weeks, current humanitarianresponse remains inadequate, due in part to ongoing access restrictions and difficulties in scaling up emergency assistance programmes, as well as funding gaps,” the UN’s Food Security and Nutrition Analysis Unit said.
Earlier yesterday, an official with the African Union said a donor conference to raise money for famine victims has been postponed for two weeks.
A conference had been scheduled for next Tuesday to bring together African leaders and international organisations to address the crisis.
But Valerie Vencatachellum, a senior policy adviser at the Ethiopia-based African Union, said that the conference was not scheduled with enough advance notice. Vencatachellum said it would be delayed two weeks so heads of state can attend.
The Horn of Africa is suffering a devastating drought that has been compounded by conflict in Somalia, bad governance and spiralling food prices. Tens of thousands of people have died, and tens of thousands more have fled Somalia to find food aid at refugee camps in Kenya and Ethiopia.
Meanwhile, Somali refugees caught between famine and civil war appealed to international aid organisations to ramp up relief distribution that has been jeopardised by fighting in Mogadishu.
The start of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan coincided with a jump in suicide attack threats made by the al-Qaida affiliated al Shabaab rebel movement, which has waged a four-year insurgency against a government it sees as a puppet of the West.
