More than half of Somalis now face starvation

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http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/africa/more-than-half-of-somalis-now-face-starvation-2348921.html

UN to announce that the famine in the Horn of Africa is spreading and the situation 'will become worse and worse'

By Emily Dugan

Sunday, 4 September 2011

The famine in Somalia has spread to new regions, the UN will announce tomorrow, with the food crisis yet to reach its peak. The new front is expected to be in the Bay region in south-central Somalia.

Some four million people – more than 50 per cent of the population – are now in crisis, and the famine is expected to spread further in the coming months. In total almost 13 million people are facing starvation in the Horn of Africa, aid agencies estimate.

American diplomatic cables released by WikiLeaks show that the UN was lobbying for help to avert catastrophe in Somalia as long ago as 2008, but official reaction to the disaster was exceedingly sluggish until recently. Now, if the rains do not come in October, the future for the millions still trapped without food amid the civil war in southern Somalia looks even more uncertain.