Rains fall on Somalia, easing famine threat

UNITED NATIONS - The start of the rainy season in Somalia in late April may have averted a moderate famine in the poverty-stricken and chaotic northeastern African nation, a UN office said today.

"Good and generally well distributed rains" began falling over southern and northern Somalia, easing the impact of a drought that has plagued all the Horn of Africa this year, the UN Office for the Co-ordination of Humanitarian Affairs reported.

However, the office cautioned that it would take more time to determine the full impact of the rains, adding that "humanitarian needs in Somalia will remain vast even if the rains continue to be good."

In addition, rainfall in the south has been heavy enough in some areas to cause flooding, preventing relief workers from getting emergency food aid to those in need.

The United Nations has appealed for US$327 million this year from international donors for emergency food, agricultural, water and sanitation needs. But to date just 29 per cent of that has been received, the office said.

The threat of famine in Somalia is part of a broader crisis that has afflicted a broad swath of East Africa, leaving some 11 million people short of food and killing tens of thousands of livestock and several hundred people.

Somalia has been a patchwork of feuding warlords for the past 15 years, following the 1991 overthrow of a military leader. Sporadic violence has made much of the country a nightmare for international aid workers.

- REUTERS