Wednesday, July 6, 2011

Violence, drought spark 'human tragedy' in Somalia

Terra Daily via AFP: Persistent violence compounded by a serious drought have forced 54,000 Somalis to flee in June, bringing the total number of displaced Somalis to a quarter of the country's population, the UNHCR said Tuesday.

The food shortage problem is so acute that there are now reports of children under five dying of hunger and exhaustion while fleeing, or dying within a day of their arrival at refugee camps despite emergency aid, the UN refugee agency said.

"The drought, compounded by prevailing violence in southern and central parts of the country, is turning one of the world's humanitarian crises into a human tragedy of unimaginable proportions," said Melissa Fleming, spokeswoman for the UN High Commissioner for Refugees.

"In June alone, 54,000 people fled across the two borders, three times the number of people who fled in May," she noted, adding that many children arriving in Ethiopia and Kenya were seriously malnourished....

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