THE DROUGHT and famine in Somalia have killed more than 29,000 children under the age of five in the past 90 days.
The shocking figure is taken from the first exact death toll released since the Horn of Africa crisis began.
In an indication of the difficulties aid groups are experiencing in getting food to the hardest hit areas, the Red Cross announced yesterday it had doubled its budget for Somali aid - but said it would not be able to help United Nations' food supplies get through to starving Somalis.
The UN World Food Programme (WFP) has food ready to distribute to stricken areas, but is blocked from operating in southern Somalia by the Islamic militant group al-Shabaab who accuses it of political bias.
The Red Cross is one of the few aid agencies allowed to operate in the region they control.
The UN has said previously that tens of thousands of people have died in the drought, the worst in Somalia in 60 years. The UN says 640,000 Somali children are acutely malnourished, a statistic that suggests the death toll of small children will rise.
Nancy Lindborg, an official with USAid, America's aid agency, told a congressional committee in Washington it estimates that more than 29,000 children under the age of five had died in the past 90 days in southern Somalia. The number is based on nutrition and mortality surveys verified by the US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention.
The UN this week declared three more regions of Somalia famine zones, bringing the total number to five. Out of a population of roughly 7.5 million, the UN says 3.2 million are in need of immediate assistance.
International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) president Jakob Kellenberger yesterday said he regretted that his organisation could not assist the WFP.
He said: "It's crucial you can ensure access and have capacity to operate big food pipelines."
He said the UN food agency normally used partner organisations to distribute its food aid, but it was very difficult for them to get access.
"The ICRC is an independent agency for its protection," said Mr Kellenberger, a former senior Swiss diplomat. The ICRC has not given al-Shabaab any payment, taxes or concessions to get access, he added.
Earlier this week, the US relaxed the rules imposed on charities operating in al-Shabaab-controlled regions in a bid to boost the amount of relief getting in. Simply operating in al-Shabaab controlled areas would previously have raised the possibility of prosecution under US anti-terrorism laws
Bruce Wharton, deputy US assistant secretary of state for African affairs, said it would be a mistake to second-guess whether some aid would end up in the hands of al-Shabaab.
He said: "What we would like is for all of the food assistance to go to the innocent people who are desperately in need and for none of it to go to al-Shabaab. But I think we all recognise that the imperative is to save lives."
Tens of thousands have fled southern Somalia in hopes of finding food at camps in Ethiopia, Kenya and in Mogadishu, .
Hundreds of millions of pounds have been donated to fight the hunger crisis, but the UN says it needs much more.
Source: Scotsman.com
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