முஸ்லீம் ஆண்கள் உதவியை தடுத்ததால், 29000 முஸ்லீம் குழந்தைகள் சாவு

சோமாலியாவில் முஸ்லீம் பயங்க்ரவாதிகள் வெளியிலிருந்து வரும் உணவு உதவியை தடுத்ததால், 90 நாட்களில் 29000 சோமாலியா குழந்தைகள் இறந்ததாக கணக்கிடப்பட்டுள்ளது.

US says Somalia famine has killed more than 29,000 children under age 5 in last 90 days
US: 29,000 Somali children under 5 dead in famine
By JASON STRAZIUSO | Associated Press | 5 hours, 0 minutes ago in World




The drought and famine in Somalia have killed more than 29,000 children under the age of 5, according to U.S. estimates, the first time such a precise death toll has been released related to the Horn of Africa crisis.

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A malnourished child from southern Somalia at a camp in Mogadishu, Somalia, Wednesday, Aug 3, 2011. Thousands of people have arrived in Mogadishu over the past two weeks seeking assistance and the number... (Associated Press)

A malnourished Somalia refugee child is seen at a field hospital of the International Rescue Committee, IRC, in Dadaab, Kenya, Wednesday, Aug. 3, 2011. Dadaab, a camp designed for 90,000 people now... (Associated Press)

Graphic provides an update of relief funding for East Africa (Associated Press)

A malnourished child cries at a field hospital of the International Rescue Committee, IRC, in Dadaab, Kenya, Wednesday, Aug. 3, 2011. Dadaab, a camp designed for 90,000 people now houses around 440,000... (Associated Press)

A child from southern Somalia takes food at a camp in Mogadishu, Somalia, Wednesday, Aug 3, 2011. Thousands of people have arrived in Mogadishu over the past two weeks seeking assistance and the number... (Associated Press)
.The United Nations has said previously that tens of thousands of people have died in the drought, the worst in Somalia in 60 years. The U.N. says 640,000 Somali children are acutely malnourished, a statistic that suggests the death toll of small children will rise.

Nancy Lindborg, an official with the U.S. government aid arm, told a congressional committee in Washington on Wednesday that the U.S. estimates that more than 29,000 children under the age of 5 have died in the last 90 days in southern Somalia. That number is based on nutrition and mortality surveys verified by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The U.N. on Wednesday declared three new regions in Somalia famine zones, bringing the total number to five. Out of a population of roughly 7.5 million, the U.N. says 3.2 million Somalis are in need of immediate lifesaving assistance.

Getting aid to Somalia has been made more difficult because al-Qaida-linked militants control much of the country's most desperate areas. Al-Shabab has denied that a famine is taking place, and won't give access to the World Food Program, the world's biggest provider of food aid.

Tens of thousands of refugees have fled south-central Somalia in hopes of finding food at camps in Ethiopia, Kenya and in Mogadishu, the Somali capital.

Hundreds of millions of dollars have been donated to fight the hunger crisis, but the U.N. says it needs hundreds of millions more.