At least 136 people have now starved to death in Somalia since the beginning of March. The country has been ravaged by a drought which, coupled with long-standing insecurity, is threatening the lives of half the population, 6.2 million people.
At least 26 people died of hunger in the semi-autonomous southern region of Jubbaland in a day and a half, the government-owned Radio Mogadishu quoted an official as saying.
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“The people in those areas need emergency assistance,” Mohamed Hussein, the Jubbaland assistant minister of interior, said. Residents claimed most of the affected towns in the area were controlled by al-Shabaab terror group.
Earlier this month, another 110 people died from hunger in Somalia, which is on the brink of another famine, just six years after some 260,000 people starved to death in the East African nation.
Two consecutive seasons of poor rainfall have resulted in severe water shortages, a drop in food production, livestock deaths and rising costs of food.
Persisting insecurity and travel restrictions – imposed throughout Mogadishu due to possible attacks by Shabaab militants – have resulted in the escalation of food prices and a drop in supplies, meaning that people do not have access to basic goods to cope with the ongoing crisis.