The United Nations on Monday urged "massive" action for the drought-stricken Horn of Africa region but charities slammed low aid pledges ahead of talks with donor countries in Nairobi this week.

"The catastrophic situation demands massive and urgent international aid," said Jacques Diouf, head of the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) which hosted Monday's emergency meeting of UN aid agencies and charities in Rome.

"It is imperative to stop the famine" declared by the UN this month in two insurgent-held areas of southern Somalia, Diouf said.

The UN World Food Programme (WFP) announced at the talks that it would begin an airlift of food aid on Tuesday into the Somali capital Mogadishu, as well as to eastern Ethiopia and northern Kenya on the border with Somalia.

An estimated 3.7 million people in Somalia -- around a third of the population -- are on the brink of starvation and millions more in Djibouti, Ethiopia, Kenya and Uganda have been struck by the worst drought in the region in 60 years.

Officials said at Monday's meeting the UN has received about $1 billion (696 million euros) since first launching an appeal for the region in November 2010 but needs a billion more by the end of the year to cope with the emergency.

The World Bank on Monday pledged more than $500 million, with the bulk of the money set to go towards long-term projects to aid livestock farmers while $12 million would be for immediate assistance to those worst hit by the crisis.

But charities voiced disappointment at the international response.

"It is shameful that only a few of the richest and powerful economies were willing to demonstrate today their commitment to saving the lives of many of the poorest and most vulnerable," said Barbara Stocking, the head of Oxfam.

U2 band frontman and anti-poverty campaigner Bono's charity ONE said: "The political will manifested in Rome should be followed by action."

French Agriculture Minister Bruno Le Maire called for the creation of a rapid reaction unit within FAO to respond to food crises, more research into drought-resilient crops and a crackdown on high food prices.

"If we don't take the necessary measures, famine will be the scandal of this century," Le Maire said. He also berated the international community for having "failed" to ensure food security in a world affected by climate change.

Le Maire said the issue would be discussed at "the donor conference in Nairobi in two days' time." A spokesman for FAO later specified this was not a pledging conference but a regular meeting to which donors had been invited.

UN officials say the drought has killed tens of thousands of people in recent months, forcing hundreds of thousands of desperate survivors from the worst-affected areas of Somalia to walk for weeks in search of food and water.

The key challenge for aid groups has been reaching parts of southern Somalia held by the Al Qaeda-inspired Islamist militia group Shebab, which has banned WFP and other international humanitarian agencies from operating on its territory.

Somali Deputy Prime Minister Mohamed Ibrahim called for "humanitarian corridors" to reach the affected areas.

WFP chief Josette Sheeran said her organisation would begin food airlifts on Tuesday into Mogadishu, as well as aid flights to Dolo in Ethiopia on the border with Somalia and to Wajir in northern Kenya, which has been badly hit by drought.

The plight of children in Somalia is "the worst I have ever seen," she said, after visiting Mogadishu and the Dadaab refugee camp in Kenya over the weekend.

"What we saw is children who are arriving so weak that many of them are in stage four malnutrition and have little chance -- less than 40 percent chance -- of making it," Sheeran said.

In the government-controlled village of Doloow in southern Somalia meanwhile, children cried in the dust and women begged for food.

Hassan Abdi clutched his grandson in one hand and in the other he held the only food his family of seven have: a bag of grain, some sugar and a bottle of cooking oil donated by an aid agency.

"This food will help, but it will not last long," Abdi said. "Things are hard now but we fear for the times ahead, when everything is gone."

Live Aid organiser and Irish rocker Bob Geldof joined activists in urging the international community to come up with more aid for famine victims, in a letter published Monday ahead of the meeting in Rome.

Geldof and other celebrities accused France, Germany, Italy and Arab states of having given "minuscule amounts of money to prevent people dying from hunger."

earlier related report
Aid efforts too little in famine-struck Somalia
Doloow, Somalia (AFP) July 25, 2011 - Their children cry in the dust as women beg for food in this southern Somalia village where tens of thousands have flocked after trekking for days to seek relief from an extreme drought.

Hassan Abdi clutches his grandson in one hand, while in the other he holds the only food his family of seven have: a bag of grain, some sugar and a bottle of cooking oil donated by an aid agency.

"His stomach burns like fire because he is so hungry, but there is nothing I can do," Abdi said, staring sadly at his five-year-old grandson.

Already weakened by long years of brutal war, the people of southern Somalia are struggling for survival in the wake of the worst drought to hit the Horn of Africa in 60 years.

Tens of thousands of people have died, according to the UN, which has warned that the famine currently affecting up to 350,000 people in two regions of southern Somalia will spread if urgent action is not taken.

"This food will help, but it will not last long," Abdi added. "Things are hard now but we fear for the times ahead, when everything is gone."

Families sit patiently in the shade of trees waiting for help, while thin camels with skin pulled tight across their ribs search for grazing in the hot scrubland.

Many have trekked for days to reach Doloow, a village in the Gedo region, where some 66,000 people are displaced, pleading for aid, and adding pressure on food and water for a community also at risk of famine itself.

Families continue to walk across the border to Ethiopia, seeking food and medicine in the crowded refugee camps there.

But despite international pledges of money and support, getting the aid to the people on the ground inside this region of war-torn Somalia is a huge challenge.

Much of southern Somalia -- including the two famine-struck areas of southern Bakool and Lower Shabelle -- is controlled by Islamist Shebab rebels, who are designated a terrorist group by the United States, and who continue to ban several key aid agencies from operating.

Aid workers have been killed in the past, while a government minister was abducted last week by Shebab gunmen.

But Doloow is still controlled by the embattled Western-backed government. The shifting battleline with Shebab gunmen lies about a 100 kilometres (60 miles) into the arid land.

In this small area at least, aid workers can operate with caution.

"We are quite sure the aid workers will be safe, here at least " said Abdulrashid Hassan Abdi, the local commissioner, speaking from a compound surrounded by soldiers armed with automatic rifles.

"Elsewhere, well, the fighting is still going on," he added.

Many of those arriving in Doloow from famine-hit areas recount tales of brutal harassment as they travelled through rebel-run regions.

Several say they have spent all their money and have bartered all their goods and surviving livestock to pay for a safe passage through regions controlled by Shebab or militia factions.

"We sold all we had to get here. We used all the money," said father-of-four Sayed Hassan.

He walked with his family for three days from the famine-hit Bakool region, before selling the last of his animals and cooking containers for a truck ride.

"The Shebab took all that we had in payment to allow us to cross here," Hassan added. "I once had many goats, but we have nothing now for the future."

In Doloow, local aid workers employed by the Italian aid agency Cooperazione Internazionale (COOPI) organised the food distribution.

Its workers expressed hope that increased aid could be distributed inside Shebab-held regions.

"Somalia can be dangerous, but we are here to support the people who are dying," said Maurice Kiboye, COOPI's programme manager for central and southern Somalia.

Despite severe restrictions on several aid agencies, COOPI manages to work within Shebab areas.

"The local communities are our security without a gun," said Kiboye, a Kenyan, who has worked in Somalia for seven years.

"The people tell the Shebab, they are only giving us food, let them work."

For the international community watching worriedly from the sidelines, such organisations seem to show that pledged aid can be delivered on the ground.

"If there is any more that these people (COOPI) can do, we will find the funds," EU humanitarian commissioner Kristalina Georgieva said, during a visit to Doloow Sunday to assess the impact of the drought and famine.

"Time is not on our side. We have to act now, to help local communities as well as reaching out to those who have been displaced," she added.

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