Somalia facing worst drought in five years - UN

Al Shabaab rebels, who profess loyalty to al Qaeda, have refused to allow food aid to be distributed in south and central Somalia which they control.

"It looks as if we are now going into something that last happened five years ago which is an acute drought cycle," Mark Bowden, the UN Humanitarian Coordinator for Somalia, said in an interview with Reuters.

"Clearly the issue of food distribution is going to become more and more pressing."

The number of Somalis in need of humanitarian assistance has increased by 20 percent in the last six months to 2.4 million out of a population of 7.5 million people, according to the Food and Agriculture Organisation's (FAO) unit report on Somalia.

This represents 32 percent of the population.

Bowden said it is possible that half of the population will require aid as the drought intensifies.

The rebels are unwilling to negotiate with the UN because they do not believe food aid is necessary, Bowden said.

"There is a sort of sense from some of the armed groups that food assistance creates dependency and is not good for the population.

"I'm very open to dialogue...It does need some indication from the other side that they would also be willing to talk about these issues," he said.

Sorghum and maize prices have increased by 75 to 80 percent following the failure of the October to December rains.

"We have seen a complete crop failure," said Grainne Moloney, chief technical advisor at FAO's Food Security and Nutrition Analysis Unit.

Many people, particularly some 400,000 displaced living in the Afgooye corridor 25km outside the capital Mogadishu, cannot afford to buy food because they do not have work.

Some are even returning to conflict-stricken Mogadishu to earn money. Increasing numbers will be forced to migrate in search of work as the drought worsens.

"We have to create the conditions for local, temporary, rapid employment to make sure that people can access their cash," said Luca Alinovi, head of FAO Somalia.

"It's critical that we save their lives and we prevent them being displaced now before it becomes a critical problem."

The influx of money through agricultural work projects or cash vouchers for hungry people could relieve hoarding which is contributing to soaring cereal prices.

Food aid would also bring food prices down.

"Famines are usually market-led phenomena," said Bowden

"Just increasing food into the market is sometimes a legitimate means of better addrssing critical conditions."

Acute malnutrition among children is up from 15 to 21 percent in the last six months. Three quarters of these children are in the rebel-controlled south.