NAIROBI - A severe drought in western and southern Somalia has killed dozens of people, hundreds of livestock and raised fears of an outbreak of disease after seasonal rains failed, a minister said on Thursday.
The fledgling Somali government appealed for food, medicine and water tanks to cut the risk that hundreds of dehydrated residents may die while searching for water, Information Minister Mohamed Abdi Hayr said in a statement.
Hayr said the worst hit areas were Gedo, in Somalia's west and Buale in the Lower Juba region bordering Kenya.
He said government representatives who toured the regions reported having seen dozens of human deaths and hundreds of livestock casualties.
"Animals and the people have started to die," Hayr said. "This is an urgent matter for which we call the immediate attention and action on the part of the donors, UN agencies and other humanitarian agencies."
Somalia has been without a central government since 1991 when a coalition of clan militias ousted former dictator Mohamed Siad Barre. Since then, hundreds of thousands have died from famine and conflict spawned by the ensuing anarchy.
The UN World Food Programme (WFP) estimates that nearly a million Somalis are in dire need of food aid.
But insecurity in some parts of Somalia -- including sea piracy that saw two ships carrying food aid hijacked -- makes efforts to dispense food and other aid extremely difficult.
A split in an interim government formed last year in neighbouring Kenya has also seriously hampered its ability to serve nearly 10 million people in the Horn of Africa nation.
Story by Guled Mohamed
REUTERS NEWS SERVICE
