AhlulBayt News Agency

source : AP
Saturday

6 August 2011

7:30:00 PM
258066

29,000 kids perished in Somalia famine

More than 29,000 children under the age of five have been killed due to the drought and famine in Somalia.

(Ahlul Bayt News Agency) - Nancy Lindborg, assistant administrator of the US Agency for International Development (USAID), told a congressional committee in Washington on Wednesday that the children have died in the last 90 days in southern Somalia.

The new figure is based on nutrition and mortality surveys verified by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

On Wednesday, the United Nations declared three new regions in Somalia famine zones, bringing the total number to five.

The UN says 3.2 million Somalis are in need of immediate lifesaving assistance.

Somalia has been worst affected by famine in the Horn of Africa but parts of Kenya, Uganda, Ethiopia and Djibouti are also hit.

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