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- Feb 12, 2007
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Over 750,000 Somalis Will Die Without Urgent Help
MORE than 750,000 people will die of starvation in Somalia in the next four months unless urgent help arrives within weeks, the United Nations said yesterday as it announced that the country's famine had spread further.
A sixth region, Bay in central Somalia, is in famine, according to data released following recent assessment missions. The studies show that more than half of the country, or four million people, need food aid to keep them from dying, but aid workers are concerned that the international fund-raising effort is slowing.
Already "tens of thousands have died" and "hundreds" more are still dying each day, the UN's Food Security and Nutrition Analysis Unit said.
"In total, four million people are in crisis in Somalia, with 750,000 people at risk of death in the coming four months in the absence of adequate response," the report concluded.
Starvation in several more areas is expected to worsen in the coming months, before rains due in October water seeds ahead of harvests hoped for early next year.
"We can't underestimate the scale of the crisis," said Mark Bowden, the UN's humanitarian co-ordinator for Somalia. click to read more
