Somalia: Top UN Aid Official Voices Alarm At Intensified Fighting, Worsening Drought

4 March 2011

With intensified fighting in Somalia driving thousands more people from their homes in recent days and a devastating drought continuing to worsen, the top United Nations humanitarian official today voiced growing alarm for a nation that has already endured 20 years of war.

"The current fighting in Belet Xaawo has forced thousands of people to flee anew, both within the country and across the border into the town of Mandera in Kenya. The people remaining in Belet Xaawo are moving out of the town due to lack of water and food," said Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs Valerie Amos, who visited Somalia last month.

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