Monday, September 3, 2012

Over 2 million Somalis at risk of starvation by year-end: Report

The UN has warned that 2.12 million people in Somalia are at risk of being starved for the August-December period as the African state is still in the grip of food security crisis, Press TV reports.

A new report by Food Security and Nutrition Analysis Unit (FSNAU), managed by UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), showed that the food crisis has not been fully contained in Somalia although the estimate displays a 16 percent reduction from the beginning of the year.

“I have been in Mogadishu for one year now. I have six children and my husband cannot afford a living. The situation here is unbearable and we receive no assistance from the Somali government,” a Somali internally displaced person (IDP) told Press TV.

The report also highlighted that lifesaving humanitarian assistance remains necessary to help people meet immediate food needs, protect livelihoods, and build resilience.
“I appeal to my Muslim brothers and affluent Somali people to come and assist us. We have fled our native regions to see a better life here, but for seven months we have seen no aid at all,” said another IDP.

Last year, drought affected around 10 million people in four countries of the Horn of Africa, including Somalia.

Somalia is one of the countries generating the highest number of refugees and IDPs in the world.

Somalia has not had an effective central government since 1991, when warlords overthrew former dictator Mohamed Siad Barre.

Source: Press TV

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