UN urges action on Horn of Africa drought

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ROME, Jul 25 – The United Nations on Monday urged a “massive” effort to save millions of people in the drought-stricken Horn of Africa, as France said donor countries would meet in Nairobi this week to step up aid pledges.
“The catastrophic situation demands massive and urgent international aid,” Jacques Diouf, head of the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), said at the start of emergency talks on the crisis his agency is hosting in Rome.
“It is imperative to stop the famine,” said Diouf, after the United Nations declared a famine in two insurgent-held areas of southern Somalia.
And the UN’s World Food Programme (WFP) announced at the talks that it would begin an airlift of food aid into the Somali capital Mogadishu on Tuesday. READ MORE