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Somalia PM urges aid workers to stay after blast. By Aaron Maasho ADDIS ABABA Wed Oct 5, 2011 3:42pm BST ADDIS ABABA (Reuters) - Somali Prime Minister Abdiweli Mohamed Ali urged aid workers on Wednesday not to stay away from the famine-ravaged Horn of Africa nation after al Qaeda-linked militants killed 70 people in a Mogadishu suicide bomb attack and vowed to boost security. A truck bomb struck at the heart of the Somali capital on Tuesday and the Islamist militants al Shabaab group warned of more "serious blasts" at a time when aid groups are struggling to reach some 4 million people, most of whom live in the rebel-controlled southern and central parts of Somalia. President Sheikh Sharif Ahmed said the rebels could not have "attacked the Somali people at a worst time," as Somalia struggles with the worst drought to hit it in decades.

"We will make sure that our security and national police force will work harder. The TFG (Transitional Federal Government) is committed to eliminating this threat. " The group is fighting to oust the U.N. Corne de l’Afrique : le casse-tête des humanitaires. Le Monde.fr | • Mis à jour le | Par Hugo Domenach La Corne de l'Afrique est frappée par une sécheresse qui touche plus de 12 millions de personnes. L'aide humanitaire, suspendue à la situation politique des pays et à la mobilisation internationale peine à atteindre les zones les plus sévèrement frappées.

Une crise humanitaire de grande ampleur "La plus sévère crise humanitaire dans le monde aujourd'hui. " C'est ainsi que l'ONU a qualifié, mercredi, le drame qui se déroule actuellement dans la Corne de l'Afrique. Cette péninsule, qui s'étend depuis la côte sud de la mer Rouge jusqu'à la côte ouest de la mer d'Oman, est frappée par une sécheresse de grande ampleur qui, en affectant la production locale, touche près de 12 millions de personnes. L'ONU a fait état jeudi d'une propagation de la famine à trois nouvelles zones de Somalie, dont Mogadiscio, la capitale.

Le sud de la Somalie, épicentre inaccessible de la crise L'épicentre de la crise se trouve au sud de la Somalie. " Stark images of misery in Somalia spark action. A drought in the Horn of Africa has destroyed crops for more than a year. Refugees are pouring out of Somalia, the failed, lawless state. Lucky ones reach refugee camps just over the border in Kenya. Already there are 450,000 thousand people jammed in one those camps that was designed for 90,000. In all, right now, 12 million people are at risk of starvation. Some remarkable pictures have been coming in from the growing humanitarian disaster in East Africa. Horn of Africa famine: How to helpSomalia refugees: No food to break Ramadan fastObama says Somalia deserves more attention New York Times photojournalist Tyler Hicks recently returned from Somalia with pictures of the starving.

Tyler Hicks' New York Times photo essay on Somalia Pelley: Tyler, your pictures of course are all about individuals, but I'm curious about what we can't see. Hicks: It's not a place that you have to look very far. Pelley: One of your photos (at left) is particularly striking. Hicks: Not at all. Somalia famine: The problems of delivering aid | Mark Tran | Global development. A child from southern Somalia takes food at a camp in Mogadishu, Somalia.

Photograph: Farah Abdi Warsameh/AP The famine in Somalia will spread unless the world community responds with greater urgency, the UN said this week. With more than 12 million people in Kenya, Ethiopia, Somalia and Djibouti in need of aid, the UN says $1.4bn (£853m) is needed. Operations have been hit by a lack of cash in the build-up to the famine.

How has the lack of funding affected relief operations? The biggest humanitarian agency operating in Somalia is the UN's World Food Programme (WFP), the world's largest humanitarian agency fighting hunger. Didn't the UN appeal for money last year? The UN launched a consolidated appeal for Somalia last December, requesting nearly $530m to prevent the lack of resources that agencies experienced in the first half of this year. What help is now reaching Somalia? The WFP has started an airlift to Mogadishu. Is aid getting to the famine areas? Relations have been difficult. Somalia famine spreads to 3 new regions, U.N. says - latimes.com. Reporting from Johannesburg, South Africa — With hunger in the Horn of Africa dramatically worsening, the United Nations on Wednesday added three more regions of Somalia to the list of areas it says are stricken by famine.

More than 12 million people are facing starvation, with children particularly vulnerable. The U.N. last month declared that two regions of Somalia were suffering from famine, and it said Wednesday that the famine was likely to spread across most of Somalia in coming months, as well as parts of Kenya, Uganda and Ethiopia. Somalia is struggling with its worst drought in 60 years, and 3.7 million Somalis are in crisis, mainly in the south — creating Africa's most serious hunger crisis in two decades. Refugee camps in the capital, Mogadishu, are now affected as well, U.N. agencies said. PHOTOS: Somalis flee war and drought The U.N. is seeking to raise $1 billion to address the crisis.

The crisis is expected to continue until at least the end of the year. Horn Of Africa: 10 Ways You Can Help. Girls at the Howlwadag refugee centre in Mogadishu where WFP is currently provides cooked meals for around 5,000 people every day. Photo: WFP/MarcoFrattini More than 11 million people across the Horn of Africa are in urgent need of food assistance and WFP needs your help to get it to them. Here are 10 things absolutely anyone can do to help us save lives. Tweets for the Horn of Africa Click on the tweets above and access your Twitter account. Check out the interactive map! Stay on top of the hunger crisis with this regularly updated, interactive map that shows how and where WFP is operating.

Take the quiz! Put your knowledge about the Horn of Africa hunger crisis to the test. 1. 2. For the US, text the word AID to this number: 27722 to donate $10.For Canada, text the word RELIEF to this number: 45678 to donate $5. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9.