UNITED NATIONS, July 12 (Xinhua) -- Drought, armed conflict and displacement are causing millions of people to face food insecurity in Somalia this year, a UN spokesman said Friday.
In the Horn of African country, some 5.4 million people are estimated to be food insecure through the end of 2019, and nearly half of these people are facing crisis and emergency levels of food insecurity, said Farhan Haq, deputy spokesman for UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres.
Moreover, Haq said some 1.2 million children are believed to be malnourished in 2019.
He noted that prolonged drought, armed conflict, displacement and a spike in evictions of internally displaced people are pushing Somalia toward a major humanitarian emergency.
To cope with the situation, he said the government of Somalia, with support from the UN and humanitarian organizations, are implementing a 686-million-U.S.-dollar Drought Impact Response Plan to help 4.5 million Somalis for the rest of this year.
