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UN: Somali famine over but millions still need humanitarian assistance
06.02.2012 08:12 "Agro Perspectiva" (Kyiv) —
Famine conditions have ended in Somalia but the United Nations is warning the situation in the country remains fragile.
The UN says a combination of the massive scale up in humanitarian assistance and an exceptional bumper harvest has helped to improve the situation in Somalia.
The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) says the number of Somalis in need of emergency humanitarian assistance has dropped from a high of 4 million to 2.34 million.
The UN says there was need to use this temporary relief from the worst of the crisis to focus on life saving assistance and build peoples ability to cope with future drought and reduce dependency on aid.
«Any significant interruption of assistance would reverse the gains made since famine was declared. This region remains in a humanitarian emergency zone. It doesn’t mean the crisis is over. Aid levels must be sustained to consolidate the humanitarian gains. The bumper harvest will provide temporary respite. But still we have 2.3 million Somalis remaining in crisis,» admits Elizabeth Byrs, the OCHA spokesperson in Geneva.
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