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750,000 Somalis face death through starvation - UN
06.09.2011 09:40 "Agro Perspectiva" (Kyiv) —
Up to 750,000 Somalis face starving to death over the next four months following the declaration of famine in a sixth region of the Horn of Africa country.
The UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), said that famine has spread to Bay region, one of Somalia’s most productive areas.
Five other regions had previously been declared in a state of famine.
Andy Needham from the UN refugee agency (UNHCR) says:
«The figures today are telling us that three quarters of a million people are now in danger of starvation. It’s a fairly shocking figure. But also equally shocking is the fact that over half the population of Somalia is in need of assistance, nearly four million people out of population of seven and a half million are in need of assistance right now.»
Somalia has not had a functioning government for over two decades.
Ongoing conflict and drought have left four million people in need of humanitarian assistance, an increase of around one and a half million since the beginning of the year.
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