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Somalia facing humanitarian `Catastrophe' -says aid group Fri. June 27, 2008 02:54 am.- By Bonny Apunyu. - (SomaliNet) Doctors Without Borders said Somalia is facing a humanitarian ``catastrophe'' as an escalating conflict restricts aid agencies' efforts to provide food and medical supplies. “Every time we think it can't get much worse, it does,'' Nicolas de Torrente, the Geneva-based charity's executive director in the U.S., said in a conference call today. “At this point, we feel we've reached a new low.'' The Horn of Africa nation has been wracked by violence since the government ejected Islamic fighters from southern and central areas in January 2007. The United Nations estimates 1 million Somalis are displaced within the country as people flee fighting between the Islamists and government forces, which are supported by Ethiopian soldiers. Almost 3,000 children are in programs to help combat malnutrition, said Greg Elder, the group's deputy operations manager for Somalia. Some 500 more children are admitted every week as a lack of rain led to a poor harvest this year. Inflation and global increases in food and fuel prices are worsening the situation. “Food aid normally plugs these gaps,'' Elder said. “It's difficult for agencies to deliver the food where it's needed, to the stomachs of the children,'' because of worsening security, he said. Some Somali families, once they have exhausted all their resources and cut down to one meal every few days, “are in the very difficult situation of having to decide which members of their families are expendable,'' he said. More than 250,000 internally displaced people live in camps around Mogadishu after fleeing violence in the country's capital. “They are trapped in this corridor of misery,'' Elder said. ‘There's poor sanitation, poor shelter, they're at risk of respiratory-tract infections, cholera, and mortality rates will be catastrophic for that population.'' The medical charity, also known as Médecins Sans Frontières, gradually withdrew its 97 international staff members from the country after three colleagues were killed in a roadside bomb attack in the southern port town of Kismayo in January. The agency now does ``flash visits'' to specific areas and maintains about 600 local staff, Benoit Le Duc, operations manager for Somalia, said on the call. “The needs are obvious,'' Le Duc said. “They are increasing every day, but we are limited by fear of going into Somalia.-Bloomberg News Category: Somalia Latest Headlines Latest News South Korea considering dispatching navy ship to wa... Somalia: Armed Ethiopian troops leave southwestern ... PRESS RELEASE: Amnesty International speaks on displ... Somalia: Pirates attack six more ships off of Somal... Uganda: ICC renews calls for arrest of LRA chie... Somalia: Aid agencies welcome in central Somalia- I... U.S Elections: Obama widens leading margins over McCa... Zimbabwe: Opposition, ruling party fail to meet ZAMBIA: NO TRAVEL ALERTS FOLLOWING DEADLY DIESEASE Somalia: Over 50 aid agencies criticize humanitari... More News...