UN alarmed on mortality of Somali kids

UN: The United Nations refugee agency (UNHCR) has expressed grave concern about a rise in the number of young Somali children dying of hunger and exhaustion while escaping with families from the lawless Horn of Africa state.

“Increasingly, we are hearing reports of children below the age of five dying of hunger and exhaustion during the journey,” UNHCR spokesperson Melissa Fleming has told reporters in Geneva.

“Tragically, many children are in such weak conditions when they finally arrive that they die within 24 hours despite the emergency care and therapeutic feeding they immediately receive,” she added.

More than 50 percent of Somali children arriving in Ethiopia and between 30 to 40 percent of those arriving in Kenya are seriously malnourished, says the UN High Commissioner for Refugees.

“Many families tell us they exhausted virtually all of their resources. Facing starvation, they walk for days, several weeks at times, through the desert, arriving in an appalling state of health,” noted Fleming.

Fleming said more than 135,000 Somalis have fled so far this year, including 54,000 in June, three times as many as in May. Aid agencies are appealing for millions of dollars to deal with the food crisis which is affecting millions of people in the Horn of Africa.

According to the UN, it is estimated that a quarter of Somalia’s population of 7.5 million is now either internally displaced or living outside the country as refugees.

Ongoing conflict inside the country makes it difficult if not impossible for aid agencies to reach the people with assistance.

Somalia has been without a functioning government since 1991, when warlords overthrew former dictator Mohamed Siad Barre.

Strategically located in the Horn of Africa, Somalia remains one of the countries generating the highest number of refugees and internally displaced persons (IDP) in the world.

The UNHCR reported in April that the number of Somali refugees arriving to neighboring countries during the first quarter of 2011 has more than doubled in comparison to the same period in 2010. Thursday, Press TV