British aid agencies are preparing to expand their activities in Somalia to help some of the 10 million people at risk of starvation in East Africa.

Somalis flee to Kenya in search for food

Relief operations have been constrained by the security situation in Somalia.

But Islamist militant group al-Shabab last week announced it was lifting a ban on foreign aid organisations because of the severity of the drought.

The UK's Disasters Emergency Committee has launched an appeal after severe drought in the Horn of Africa.

The Disasters Emergency Committee (DEC) said Somalia, where there has been no national government for 20 years, was one of the hardest places in the world to deliver aid.

Most international aid agencies in the country have been banned from working in areas under the control of al-Shabab, which is thought to have links to al-Qaeda.

DEC charities are preparing to increase their work in southern Somalia as thousands of people continue to flee to Kenya, Ethiopia and even Somalia's war-torn capital Mogadishu.

One of the DEC's member charities, Islamic Relief, said its priorities in Somalia were focused on providing food aid, healthcare, clean water and sanitation facilities.

It said one of its projects has been working in camps in the Afgooye corridor - a 20km-long strip of land north-west of Mogadishu - where it has provided emergency food aid to 3,425 households.


Disasters Emergency Committee DEC is an umbrella organisation representing a number of aid agencies

Participants include ActionAid, Age UK, British Red Cross, Cafod, Care International UK, Christian Aid, Concern Worldwide, Islamic Relief, Merlin, Oxfam, Plan UK, Save the Children, Tearfund and World Vision

To make a donation call 0370 60 60 900 (charged at national rate) or post a donation to PO Box 999 London EC3A 3AA

The charity said £50 could provide clean water to 1,000 people, while £100 could provide emergency food to 100 families per day.

BBC world affairs correspondent Peter Biles said the agencies were now looking at every opportunity to help people in Somalia, although the new arrangements with al-Shabab are still to be tested.

Al-Shabab is officially labelled as a terrorist group by the UK and the US, and some donor governments are known to be worried about the possible diversion of aid to the insurgents.

The DEC, a group of the UK's leading aid agencies, launched the fund-raising appeal with a series of TV and radio broadcasts on Friday. By Monday it had raised £9m.

Comedian Lenny Henry fronted the BBC TV appeal, while broadcaster Kate Adie voiced a radio version.

   
 

Extended drought is causing a severe food crisis in the Horn of Africa, which includes Kenya, Ethiopia, Djibouti and Somalia. Weather conditions over the Pacific means the rains have failed for two seasons and are unlikely to return until September. 


 Food shortages are affecting up to 12 million people. The UN has not declared a famine but large areas of the region are now classified as in crisis or emergency, with malnutrition affecting up to 35-40% of children under five.   

 

The humanitarian problem is made worse by ongoing conflicts, which means that until July militant groups had only allowed aid organisations limited access to large parts of southern Somalia and eastern Ethiopia.

 

Since the beginning of 2011, around 15,000 Somalis each month have fled into refugee camps in Kenya and Ethiopia looking for food and water. The refugee camp at Dadaab, in Kenya, has been overwhelmed by 370,000 people.   

 

Farmers unable to meet their basic food costs are abandoning their herds. High cereal and fuel prices had already forced them to sell many animals before the drought and their smaller herds are now unprofitable or dying. 

 

The refugee problem may have been preventable. However, violent conflict in the region has deterred international investment in long-term development programmes, which may have reduced the effects of the drought. 

 

Development aid would focus on reducing deforestation, topsoil erosion and overgrazing and improving water conservation. New roads and infrastructure for markets would help farmers increase their profits.   

 

The result of climate conditions, conflict and lack of investment is that 6.7 million people in Kenya and Ethiopia are currently existing on food rations, and relief agencies estimate 2.6 million in Somalia will need assistance a new emergency operation.  The British public donated more than £1m to individual charities even before the DEC appeal was launched.

The UK has pledged £38m in food aid to drought-hit Ethiopia - enough to feed 1.3 million people for three months.

Meanwhile, the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) aid agency has started distributing aid in Mogadishu following the lifting of the ban by al-Shabab.

The OIC gave out dried food such as maize to some of the thousands of people who have fled to the capital recently.

An OIC official urged other aid groups to resume work in Somalia.

Thousands of families in desperate need of food and water have trekked for days from Somalia to the Dadaab refugee camp in eastern Kenya.

The drought is the worst in East Africa for 60 years. The UN described it as a "humanitarian emergency".