UN food body to hold special summit on Somalia says French minister
French finance minister Alain Juppé said that the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation is to hold an emergency meeting on Somalia, in line with a request from Paris.
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Juppé said the meeting, under the chairmanship of outgoing FAO Director-General Jacques Diouf, is to be held in Rome, and a special aid programme for Somalia will be announced.
Juppé said he had also asked the European Union to mobilise all its means.
"The succession of bad agricultural seasons and particularly unfavourable weather conditions have dramatic consequences for millions of people in the region", the French government said in a letter to Diouf.
The FAO along with the World Food Programme and the international charity Oxfam, launched an appeal ten days ago for urgent and durable intervention, warning that 12 million people lacked food in the region and were in a critical state.
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