18/05/08 (B448) Press TV – Un tavailleur humanitaire, responsable d’une organisation présente sur le terrain, a été tué par des hommes masqués – Somali aid organizer shot dead (En Anglais – Info lecteur)

Full-blown famine threatens Somalia, already devastated by years of war and scarcity.

Leader of a Somali aid organization Bariyow has died after being shot in the chest and head by masked gunmen on his way home in Kismayo.

The reason for the assassination of Ahmed Bariyow, director of Somalia’s Horn Relief organization is not known.

This comes at a time of a declared central Somalia humanitarian emergency, the final stage before a full-blown famine.

The head of UNICEF operations in Somalia has said the situation in this war-torn country is likely to become a full-scale famine in the coming weeks.

This means malnutrition, mortality, food and water scarcity, and destruction of livelihood for 2.6 million Somalis in need of assistance; a number likely to soon swell to 3.5 million, nearly half the estimated population.

In some areas of Somalia, the malnutrition rate has already soared past emergency thresholds.