Some
2.6 million Somalis now require help to feed themselves, an increase of
40 percent since January, according to figures compiled by the Food
Security Analysis Unit, part of the UN's Food and Agriculture
Organisation.
"This increase
is mainly due to the addition of 600,000 urban poor, who now face
conditions of acute food and livelihood crisis and humanitarian
emergency," said a statement from the monitoring team.
The dire
situation has been exacerbated by relentless conflict, a sharp
devaluation of the Somali shilling and hyper-inflation, as well as the
delayed start to the April-June rainy season.