a choice. Some aid workers, who fear speaking on the record because of the sensitivity of the situation, said they were appalled at the move.

One said it was like putting people affected by the famine on death row.

The BBC's East Africa correspondent Will Ross says no crops were expected to be ready for harvest until January at the earliest, so a massive food distribution operation would be needed for months to come.

In Mogadishu, thousands of people prayed for rain on Friday.

The region is affected by what the UN says is East Africa's worst drought for 60 years.that it is truly a blessed gift of God.

Oh yes, singing has been going on for almost a year now. I remember, when she still could not even crawl and was still on a pure milk diet, I placed her beside me while I played. Usually she fell asleep (twice listening to Chopin's "Revolutionary" Etude ), but her signing along a Scarlatti Sonata was hard not to miss a note due to laughter.

Mornings she usually demands to listen to a CD. At times I actually have to put one in to keep her happy and she was singing along Tcherepnin's Bagatelles.

Oh, she gets her practice all right: I am the one who has a hard time to play!

The Moeck is the best example that recorders are "not for