UN warns of worsening food crisis in Somalia

A UN food agency Friday warned that poor rains in Somalia may worsen the country's food crisis, a spokesperson said.

The Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) issued the warning that an estimated one million people were now in urgent need of assistance, said UN spokesperson Stephane Dujarric at a daily briefing, Xinhua reported.

The number has grown by 20 percent in just six months, the FAO said, adding that another two million people in Somalia were experiencing food security threats.

The FAO also said the current situation is worse than any pre-famine period in the past.

The 2010-2012 famine in Eastern Africa killed nearly 260,000 people, and more than half of them were children under the age of five, according to FAO statistics.