Over 850,000 Somalis desperately need food: UN

The director of UN humanitarian operations says more than 850,000 people in Somalia are in desperate need of food and are “in crisis and emergency conditions.”

John Ging told a news conference onTuesday that another 2 million Somalis are considered to be “food insecure.”

“These figures are very, very large,” he said. “They tell us a simple message, which is that the situation in Somalia for Somalis on the humanitarian side is very grave. It’s also very fragile.”

Ging appealed for about $900 million in aid.

Somalia has been trying to establish its first functioning central government since 1991, when warlords overthrew a longtime dictator and turned on each other. Al Shabab rebels were ousted from the capital, Mogadishu, in 2011 but are not yet defeated.