Pope urges aid for drought-stricken Africa

Submitted on July 21, 2011

Catholic News Service

Internally displaced Somali women and children waited at a camp in the capital Mogadishu July 20. Parts of southern Somalia are suffering from famine, a U.N. official said July 19, and tens of thousands of Somalis have already died in the worst hunger emergency in a generation.

Feisal Omar/Reuters, Catholic News Service

CASTEL GANDOLFO, Italy — Pope Benedict XVI urged the international community to deliver urgent humanitarian aid to the drought-stricken Horn of Africa, especially Somalia, where tens of thousands have fled drought and famine. The pope, addressing pilgrims at his summer residence outside Rome July 17, said he had been following news of the region’s humanitarian catastrophe with “deep concern.” U.N. experts say the prolonged drought, combined with a rise in food prices, have forced many families to make long and often deadly overland treks to reach refugee camps.