UN expected to declare famine in south Somalia | Mark Tran

Announcement expected from humanitarian co-ordinator for Somalia based on data from the food security and nutrition analysis unit The UN is expected on Wednesday to declare that parts of southern Somalia are now in famine amid the worst drought to hit east Africa in 60 years. Mark Bowden, humanitarian co-ordinator for Somalia, is expected to make the announcement in Nairobi, based on data from the food security and nutrition analysis unit, part of the Food and Agriculture Organisation. The drought in east Africa has left an estimated 11 million people at risk, but Somalia has been the worst hit country as it is already wracked by decades of conflict. There has not been an official famine since 1984-85 , when about 1 million people in Ethiopia and Sudan died. A famine is measured by rates of hunger, malnutrition and deaths, but the key to it is that it must be widespread. Technically, a famine is a crude mortality rate of more than two people per 10,000 per day; acute malnutrition reaching more than 30%; water consumption becoming less than four litres a day; and intake of kilocalories of 1,500 a day compared with the recommended 2,100 a day. The UN refugee agency, the UNHCR, said it was seeking further security guarantees from armed rebels in Somalia in order to deliver greater amounts of assistance and prevent more hungry people from becoming refugees, Reuters reports. Al Shabaab, Islamist insurgents affiliated to al-Qaida, control pockets of the capital Mogadishu and parts of southern and central Somalia. The group last week said it would allow foreign aid agencies into territories it controlled, reversing a ban imposed two years ago on the grounds that they were anti-Muslim. Hundreds of thousands of people have fled Somalia due to the drought and conflict, and refugees are dying of causes related to malnutrition either during the journey or very shortly after arrival at aid camps. On Sunday, the UNHCR began emergency airlift flights in Nairobi to help hundreds of thousands of Somalis who have taken refuge in neighbouring countries. A giant cargo jet chartered by UNHCR landed in Nairobi with 100 tonnes of tents for the Dadaab refugee camp complex near the Kenya-Somalia border. The airlift will support efforts to help more than 430,000 Somali refugees in Kenya and Ethiopia, including 164,000 who have arrived in the two countries since the beginning of the year. Three thousand continue to arrive daily, fleeing continuing insecurity, drought and hunger in Somalia. UN agencies have asked for $1.6bn to pay for essential programmes in east Africa, but have only received half that amount. Kenya, Somalia, Ethiopia and Djibouti are all facing a crisis that is being called the worst in 50 years. One in 10 children in parts of Somalia is at risk of starving to death, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said last week. The independent aid agency, one of very few with access to Somalia’s worst-hit areas, said that even in the Bay and Lower Shabelle regions, Somalia’s traditional breadbaskets, nearly 11% of children under five had severe acute malnutrition . An appeal by the Disasters Emergency Committee , an umbrella group of UK charities, has raised £20m since it launched its east Africa appeal. Famine Malnutrition Somalia Africa United Nations Mark Tran guardian.co.uk

Posted by on July 19, 2011. Filed under News, Politics, World News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.