AhlulBayt News Agency

source : Reuters
Thursday

1 September 2011

7:30:00 PM
263200

UN: 3 million risk starvation in Somalia

The UN refugee agency has warned that, until the next year's harvest, three million people are at the risk of starvation in southern Somalia.

(Ahlul Bayt News Agency) - Antonio Guterres, the head of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), said on Thursday "We have not yet reached the peak of the crisis."

Rains are not due in southern Somalia until October, meaning that the harvest will be in early 2012.

Guterres said: "From the point of view of the food security of the people, obviously, as time goes by, until the next harvest is possible, the situation will become worse and worse."

He acknowledged that the agency has not done enough to meet the needs of the Somalis, who have fled famine caused by the region's worst drought in 60 years.

He said: “What we are doing is out of proportion with the needs of the people. We need to scale up and we need to intensify our efforts.” According to the UN, the drought has as well triggered food shortages in Kenya, Djibouti, and Ethiopia, affecting an estimated number of 12.4 million people in the region.

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