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UN Aid Agency To Airlift Food To Somalia

July 26, 2011

The UN World Food Program (WFP) says it will begin airlifting food into Somalia today.

An estimated 3.7 million people in Somalia -- or about one-third of the population -- are on the brink of starvation and millions more in Djibouti, Ethiopia, Kenya, and Uganda have been struck by the worst drought in eastern Africa in 60 years.

At an emergency meeting of aid agencies in Rome on July 25, WFP announced that food would be airlifted into the Somali capital, Mogadishu, starting today, as well as two areas on the border with Somalia in Ethiopia and Kenya.

However, Islamist rebels who control most of Somalia have banned the WFP from areas under their control, including two areas in the south of the country where the United Nations declared a famine last week.

compiled from agency reports

Source: http://www.rferl.org/content/un_aid_agency_airlift_food_somalia/24277198.html

Copyright (c) 2011. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036.