Famine in Somalia

"Landep News"

Famine in Somalia

The situation in Somalia seems to be degenerating rapidly, as the famine spreads as a result of the drought that has been affected the Horn of Africa for the last two years.

On Thursday, the United Nations has declared that two regions of Somalia, Bakool and Lower Shabelle, meet all the conditions to be considered zones of famine. Half of the population of these regions is considered in need.

On Friday, the same organizations said that five more regions in the country were in the same situation, and the famine could break at any moment. Measures to help the people in these parts were announced by the international body.

Reports said the U.N. workers had expressed dissatisfaction that their work had been made very hard by the al-Qaeda-linked organization al-Shabab, though it was said that even they have called on the U.N. to send help when the situation escalated.

On Saturday, however, the al-Shabab said the declaration of famine in the regions of Somalia was no more than propaganda of the international body.

Al-Shabab’s spokesman said on Thursday that the United Nations exaggerated the situation for political reasons.

The spokesman added that al-Shabab will allow humanitarian aid to come to Somalia only if it is delivered through organizations the group favors. Those whom they have banned cannot pass, the spokesman added. He did not say which were the accepted organizations.

The UN agencies announced on Friday that the death rate escalates as does the exodus of Somalis who go to Ethiopia and Kenya to find refuge. They say that they attempt to take the aid to people inside the country in order to avoid overcrowding the refuge camps.

Al-Shabab

Still, they must operate with caution, so that they may not become targets of the Islamist militants.

Tens of thousands are estimated dead already of malnutrition in the regions of Somalia affected by the famine. Many of the people in these regions are searching refuge in the neighboring Ethiopia and Kenya.

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