Severe drought has killed 110 people in Somalia in the past 48 hours, Somali Prime Minister Hassan Ali Khaire said Saturday at a meeting of the Somali National Drought Committee.The death toll is specific to the Bay region of the country, but the United Nations estimates that as many as 5 million Somalis — roughly half the country's population — are in need of relief aid as ongoing drought conditions threaten widespread famine conditions. In the first drought-related death toll announced since Somalia's government declared a national disaster on Tuesday, Hassan Khaire told the nation’s drought committee 110 people had died from hunger in two days in the southwestern Bay region alone. In the worst-affected areas, inadequate rainfall and lack of water has wiped out crops and killed livestock, while communities are being forced to sell their assets, and borrow food and money to survive.”

The United Nations adds that “the Food Security and Nutrition Analysis Unit (FSNAU) and the Famine Early Warning Systems Network (FEWSNET) — managed by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) — have found that over 6.2 million, or more than half of the country’s population, are now in need of assistance, up from 5 million in September.”

Famine in Somalia killed roughly 258,000 people between 2010 and 2012, according to joint report by the United Nations and the United States Agency for International Development. "The Somali government will do its best, and we urge all Somalis wherever they are to help and save the dying Somalis," said the statement, released after a meeting of a famine response committee. "I can confirm that Bay region in the south and other parts of Somalia are deteriorating rapidly," Khaire said, "and my estimation is that half of the country's population has felt the impact of this drought." Somalia was one of four regions singled out by the UN secretary-general in February for a £3.6 billion aid appeal to avert catastrophic hunger and famine, along with northeast Nigeria, South Sudan and Yemen — all countries connected by a thread of violent conflict. Thousands have been arriving in Somalia's capital Mogadishu over recent days in search of food aid, with 7,000 internally displaced people having recently checked into one feeding centre. The government has meanwhile said the widespread hunger “makes people vulnerable to exploitation, human rights abuses and to criminal and terrorist networks.”

There is the additional threat of cholera and other diseases due to lack of clean water in many areas, UN experts said, with some deaths from cholera having already been reported.
At least 110 people have died of starvation in the drought-hit region of Bay, Somalia, in the past 48 hours, according to Prime Minister Hassan Ali Khayre. This comes as the United Nations and various non-governmental organizations are warning of potential famine in the country.