MOGADISHU: UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres on Tuesday urged the international community to take action to avert famine in Somalia where a biting drought has left three million people going hungry, reports AFP.
Somalia is facing its third famine in the 25 years that it has been embroiled in civil war and anarchy. A 2011 famine left 260,000 people dead in the Horn of Africa nation.
"There is a chance to avoid the worst... but we need massive support from the international community to avoid a repetition of the tragic events of 2011," said Guterres.
"It justifies a massive response," he added.
Guterres arrived in Mogadishu Tuesday morning for a whirlwind visit which will also take him to a camp of internally displaced persons in one of the hardest-hit parts of the country.
He met President Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed, a popular leader whose recent election has sparked hope among Somalis of a more stable future for a country notorious for being the world's foremost failed state.
"The reason (Guterres) came here today is to show support and solidarity to the Somali people at this time of humanitarian crisis," said the president, better known by his nickname Farmajo.
"We have a drought which could result in a famine if we don't receive any rain in the coming two months." While Somalia is inching closer to stability, Farmajo warned after his election that there would be no quick fixes for the country.
"Your problems were created during twenty years of conflict and droughts. A solution will need more than another twenty years," he said in an address to the Somali people last month.
The Horn of Africa nation is one of three countries -- along with Yemen and Nigeria -- on the verge of famine which has already been declared in South Sudan.
Conflict and severe drought are the common denominators that have led to an unprecedented number of famine alerts at one time around the world.