UN declares Somali famine over but warns of risks

NAIROBI, Kenya — The United Nations said Friday that Somalia's famine is over, but the world body's Food and Agricultural Organization warned that continued assistance is needed to stop the region from slipping back.

The world body moved the crisis from the top step of a five-point scale — based on the death rate — to the fourth step, formally reducing it from a "famine" to a "humanitarian emergency".

However, the U.N. said that 2.3 million people remain in a food crisis situation in Somalia and still need assistance. That represents 31 percent of the country's population. Across the Horn of Africa region the total is 9.5 million who need help.

The international body declared famine in Somalia last July after successive failed rains. Hundreds of thousands of Somalis fled to refugee camps in Kenya, Ethiopia and the Somali capital Mogadishu in search of food.

The famine was exacerbated by the Somali militant group al-Shabab, which has let few aid agencies into the area it controls in south-central Mogadishu.

Jose Graziano da Silva, the director general of the U.N.'s Food and Agriculture Organization, warned that without assistance in the region over the next three months "those people will not survive."

"The Horn of Africa will be for FAO the most important region and we'll be doing our best here to improve food security," he said. "We do believe it is possible to have a Horn of Africa free of hunger."

Mark Bowden, the U.N.'s humanitarian coordinator for Somalia, said that a massive increase in assistance last year helped lift Somalia out of famine conditions. But he said the international community needed to keep helping.

"The gains are considerable but they are also very fragile and one of the things I want to highlight is we have a temporary respite in terms of addressing the crisis in Somalia," Bowden said.

He later added: "The years of conflict and poor rains have left millions of Somalis vulnerable. The mortality rates in southern Somalia are still among the highest in the world."

The militant group al-Shabab this week banned the international Red Cross from operating in southern Somalia. Bowden said any reduction in assistance "is of critical concern to us," and he urged all sides of the conflict not to impede humanitarian aid.