US urges donors to give far more as Somalia faces famine

By CARA ANNA
Associated Press

MOGADISHU, Somalia (AP) — The first U.S. Cabinet member to visit Somalia since 2015 is urging the world’s distracted donors to give immediate help to a country facing deadly famine. Linda Thomas-Greenfield called the situation “the ultimate failure of the international community.” The U.S. ambassador to the United Nations heard perhaps the starkest warning yet about the crisis Sunday. Excess deaths during what is now Somalia’s longest drought on record will “almost certainly” surpass those of the famine formally declared in the country in 2011, when more than a quarter-million people died. This time, humanitarian officials say the world is looking elsewhere. Thomas-Greenfield says Washington would like to see countries in the nearby Gulf region donate more to Somalia.