Somalia facing mass hunger

NAIROBI (AP):

Weak and erratic rains, military conflict and little aid funding from the international community could lead to mass hunger in Somalia, aid groups warned yesterday.

The United Nation's (UN) food and security unit says 51,000 children are severely malnourished and face a high risk of death. The group warned that the food situation is likely to worsen in coming months.

"We're very concerned that, at the minute, there are so many indicators out there that Somalia is in trouble," said Ed Pomfret of the aid group Oxfam.

Somalia has long been in trouble, and that's part of the problem, more than 20 groups said in a coordinated statement.

Crises in Syria, South Sudan, Congo and the Central African Republic have dominated recent headlines. Somalia, Pomfret noted, has long been known for a quartet of misery: "Pirates, terrorism, hunger and death." But, the groups said, those are not reasons to neglect Somalis in need.

The aid appeal is made with the spectre of Somalia's 2011 famine, when an estimated 260,000 people died, fresh in memories. Aid groups, the UN and donor governments acknowledge that they did not respond to warning signs in time.