The UN said Sunday it had made its first delivery of aid to a rebel-held Somalia region in two years, as calls mounted for more international help to deal with the devastating drought in the Horn of Africa.

War-torn Somalia is the worst affected country by a severe drought that has hit the Horn of Africa region, prompting appeals for increased aid to some 10 million people facing starvation, according to UN figures.

The UN children agency airlifted five metric tonnes of food and medicines to Baidoa, a town in central Somalia under the control of the Al Qaeda-inspired Shebab rebels, after the insurgents lifted a two-year-old ban on foreign relief groups, a spokeswoman said on Sunday.

"It was successful and it was a good step towards airlifting supplies into Somalia. It is the first in two years," said Iman Morooka, the UNICEF spokeswoman for Somalia.

Morooka said the Shebab, who in 2009 expelled foreign aid groups after accusing them of being Western spies and Christian crusaders, "have given approval and gave unhindered access, and it was a smooth operation."

The delivery was made on Wednesday and UNICEF said it was ready to take more supplies to southern and central regions of Somalia controlled by the hardline rebels.

The Horn of Africa's current drought is its worst in decades and British International Development Secretary Andrew Mitchell on Sunday urged European countries and the international community to step up assistance to the region.

"We have seen some derisory offers from rich European countries. The whole international community... should now realise the scale of what is happening in the Horn of Africa and put their shoulder to the wheel and do everything they can to help," Mitchell told reporters in Nairobi.

"It is a terrible thing in our world today that a baby should die from lack of food," said Mitchell, who toured some of Kenya's drought-affected regions.

UNICEF director Anthony Lake said: "This is a very serious crisis... not only are the immediate needs great, but this crisis is likely to deepen over the coming six months or so because it is very unlikely that there will be sufficient new harvests."

"We have to do everything we can now to ameliorate its scope and to save the lives of the people who are affected," he added.

On Saturday, Britain promised �52 million (59 million euro, $73 million) in emergency aid. Germany also pledged a further five million euros for the crisis.

Mitchell visited Dadaab refugee camps in the east of Kenya, where hundreds of Somalis are seeking refuge every day after days of trekking that have claimed the lives of weak children and seen families robbed and attacked on the way.

The 380,000-strong Dadaab camps are the world's largest refugee settlement, now hosting more than four times their original capacity. One third of the new arrivals are women and children.

"I have never before seen a collection of so many mothers and children completely silent," said Mitchell.

"I saw the feet of some of the children and mothers covered in cuts and blisters. It was amazing that they could move at all on feet that have been so badly injured," he added.

Lake on Saturday toured Kenya's Turkana region in the north where he said families had run out of food and some mothers were feeding their children on pounded nuts they first moisten with saliva before giving to the babies.

UNICEF estimates that more than two million children in the Horn of Africa region are malnourished and need urgent help, while some 500,000 of them face imminent, life-threatening conditions.

Pope Benedict XVI also called Sunday for increased international help to stave off a "humanitarian catastrophe".

"I am deeply concerned by news from the Horn of Africa and in particular Somalia, hit by a very serious drought followed in some regions by heavy rains which is causing a humanitarian catastrophe," Benedict said.

"I hope that the international efforts will be strengthened to help these sorely tested brothers and sisters, among them so many children," said the pope, addressing pilgrims at his summer residence outside Rome.

earlier related report
Horn of Africa drought to worsen: UNICEF
Lodwar, Kenya (AFP) July 16, 2011 - The plight of millions of people left hungry by a harsh drought across the Horn of Africa is set to worsen, with the rains not expected soon and harvests months away, a top UN official warned Saturday.

Scanty or failed rainfall in the region over the past two years has already forced thousands of Somalis to flee their country and ruined the livelihoods of millions in parts of Kenya, Ethiopia and Djibouti.

"We are possibly seeing a perfect storm in the coming months.... We are going to do everything we can to ameliorate it," UNICEF director Anthony Lake told AFP as he visited Kenya's drought-hit Turkana region.

"We are scaling up in every way we can.... It is very bad now. There will be no major harvests until some time next year. The next six months are going to be very tough," he added.

Turkana is one of Kenya's badly affected regions where malnutrition rates have risen to 37 percent, up from 15 percent in 2010, according to the aid organisation Oxfam.

The drought has also wiped out almost all the cattle, the mainstay of Turkana people, with the remaining emaciated animals driven elsewhere in search of pasture.

"The animals have all died. I am old, I cannot go to town to find work, I cannot fish, so I am just waiting," said 70-year-old Loruman Lobuin, sitting under a tree, his skinny body partly exposed under his traditional shawl.

A nurse in Lodwar, Turkana's main town, said the number of children admitted suffering malnutrition had doubled since last year.

"Many children arrive already malnourished and weak and some are irritable, but they are the lucky ones who make it here."

Lake noted that the drought was not only endangering lives, but "a way of life is being threatened also," referring to the nomadic tradition of the Turkana people.

"I have seen heart-wrenching things and oddly enough, admirable things. I cannot admire enough people living under circumstances like these," said the UNICEF chief after visiting Turkana villages.

Western countries and other donors have pledged millions of dollars in aid for the drought victims but Lake said more still needed to be done.

Britain promised 52 million pounds (59 million euro, 73 million dollars) in emergency aid, in a statement Saturday from International Development Secretary Andrew Mitchell.

"The situation is getting worse and is particularly devastating in Somalia, where families already have to cope with living in one of the most insecure countries in the world," Mitchell said.

He called for doing "more to help not only refugees but also those victims of the drought who remain in Somalia."

UNICEF said last week it needed 31.8 million dollars for the coming three months to assist millions of affected women and children.

It estimates that more than two million children in the region are malnourished and need urgent help, while some 500,000 of them face imminent, life-threatening conditions.

Experts have called for long-term measures to deal with the effects of recurring drought, arguing that the resultant human suffering can be avoided.

"Although governments and their development partners cannot make the rains come, they can mitigate the impact of these recurring droughts in East Africa," Kevin Cleaver of the International Fund for Agricultural Development said this week.

He argued that governments and donors should invest more in agricultural research to develop drought resistant crops and fodder for livestock.

The regions in the Horn of Africa often affected by cyclical drought have also been neglected by governments, with no electricity, roads, water and other basic health and education facilities.

These arid regions, many of them far removed from capitals, have also seen frequent inter-clan clashes over scarce resources as well insurgencies.

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