UN food aid arrives in Somali capital

The first batch of airlifted emergency food for starving children has arrived in famine-struck Somalia.

The UN plane was loaded with ten tonnes of supplies that will be used to feed thousands of malnourished children under the age of five for a month.

However, aid agencies say they cannot reach more than two million others facing starvation in the parts of the country where Islamic militants control much of the worst-hit areas.

There has been intense fighting between al Qaeda-linked al-Shabaab rebels and African Union troops

in Mogadishu. Eyewitnesses say a large number of civilians have been caught in the crossfire but it’s unclear how many have been hurt.

The UN says there are about 400,000 displaced people in the capital, but with about 1,000 new arrivals each day, those in makeshift camps are fighting for food, with weaker ones unable to get any.

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