São Paulo – At least one million people need some kind of assistance in Somalia and, from those, 50,000 are children on the verge of starving to death. According to information from the United Nations humanitarian coordinator for Somalia, Philippe Lazzarini, disclosed this Tuesday (14th) by the UN Radio, the crisis the country is facing might become as severe as the 2010-2012 crisis which has killed over 250,000 people, including 133,000 children.
Somalia is going through a food crisis this year due to the drought which has affected crops. Furthermore, militants of extremist group Al Shabab, which controls several cities in the country, are blocking roads used as routes to supply food to the population.
Lazzarini said external help is required to help Somali people in need. However, he acknowledges “there are many crises competing with the Somali one”.
*Translated by Rodrigo Mendonça
