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‘Widen gaze from Ukraine’ to avert famine in Somalia, U.N. agency warns -Breaking

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© Reuters. FILE PHOTO – A man inspects carcasses from animals who died in the El Nino-related drought at Marodijeex in southern Hargeysa in northern Somalia. April 7, 2016, by Reuters. Picture taken April 7, 2016. REUTERS/Feisal O

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LONDON (Reuters), – To prevent Somalia from sliding into famine and becoming a state of war, the world must shift its focus away from Ukraine, said the United Nations children’s agency on Tuesday. Only a third have been raised so far to stop the catastrophe.

In the Horn of Africa, four rainy seasons in succession have been unsuccessful – this is the worst drought period in 40 years. A fifth October-December failure looks also likely.

The combination of drought and a rise in fuel and food prices worldwide, caused by the conflict in Ukraine has left millions in Africa without access to food staples. It also killed crops and livestock.

Rania Dagash (UNICEF deputy regional director) stated that if the world doesn’t look beyond the conflict in Ukraine immediately and take action, there will be an explosion of child deaths in Horn of Africa.

Somalia currently has 386,000 life-threatening malnutrition children, which is more than 340,000 that were in need in 2011.

Dagash noted that while donor funding is generous, it falls far short of what’s needed to reach the $250 million mark.

We have only a third what we need for this year. “Our appeal to the international community led by G7 which will be meeting in Germany shortly, requires that we commit additional, new funding to save lives.” she stated.

Etienne Peterschmitt (Representative in Somalia for Food and Agriculture Organization, another U.N. agency) stated that millions of people are malnourished and 213,000 were considered to be in the most severe category due to extreme food insecurity.

He said that drought had caused dry pastures to become drier and raised the cost of water and food. Due to disease and drought, 3 million animals have perished since the beginning of last year. Of particular concern is the region of southern Bay.

Somalia stands “on the edge of catastrophic and widespread hunger, starvation, and death,” he stated, noting that it would be a “perfect storm to famine” if no action was taken.

Dagash explained that children who are malnourished were more likely to contract disease. This led to destitute parents having to walk long distances to seek treatment. Dagash cited the example of a pregnant girl walking 120km (75miles) in order to provide treatment for her 1 year-old twin boys.

I’ve seen children buried on the roadsides by their parents as they make desperate treks to get help.

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