Catastrophe feared as drought leaves Somalis facing starvation

The drought has increased the number of malnourished children in some regions, displaced thousands of people and killed thousands of animals. Officials in a central Somali region said 18 people died of drought-related effects.

UN humanitarian chief Valerie Amos said after touring camps for displaced people in Somalia's semi-autonomous region of Puntland: "The situation is dire. It is an added vulnerability to an already extremely vulnerable people."

Ms Amos's one-day trip was intended, she said, "to remind the people that there is still a long, ongoing problem in Somalia. I don't want the people to forget Somalia. When you have an ongoing problem anywhere in the world, it is easy to slip it from the agenda".

The drought is the latest in a long line of problems for Somalia, which has been in conflict since 1991, when warlords toppled the country's last central government, then turned on each other.

According to the UN, the malnutrition rate among children has jumped to 30 per cent in Somalia's southern Juba region, a figure that is double the emergency threshold. Food prices have soared by 80 per cent in some regions.

The price increase in the south is attributable in part to traders who are hoarding the food to profit off the drought, said Grainne Moloney, the head of the UN's food security and nutrition analysis unit in Nairobi, Kenya.

Many drought-affected families are fleeing their homes in search of food. In the Galmudug region of central Somalia, officials said they had not seen such drought conditions since 1974.

Local government official Omar Mohamoud said the drought had killed 18 people and displaced thousands.

He said his community had seen about 70 per cent of its sheep and goats, 50 per cent of its cattle and 30 per cent of its camels die in the past three years.

"We are appealing to the international community to respond to the crisis and provide the people with water, food, medicine and shelter," said Mr Mohamoud. "If the international community does not respond to the crisis urgently, a catastrophe of huge proportions is staring us right in the eyes."

British aid group Oxfam said the drought could be as serious as one in the early 1990s, when thousands of people died.

"The situation is bad now, but with more months of no rainfall it could become an absolute catastrophe," said Alun McDonald, the group's spokesman in Nairobi.