Puntland health ministry "has announced an increase of cases of acute diarrhea, with 20 persons reported dead out of a total affected population of 975," OCHA said in a statement released here.

"The condition is becoming more widespread, with 70 cases reported in Galkayo (in central Somalia) and 40 reported in Bossaso," said a statement released in Nairobi.

The new casualities bring the death toll to 96 since torrential rains started pounding the region in October, mainly flooding the main Shabelle and Juba rivers that have their source at the Ethiopian highlands.

Around one million Somalis are estimated to be affected by the flooding, of which at least 336,000 have been forced from their homes, according to the United Nations.

As the UN announced plans to launch a 17 million dollar (13 million euro) aid appeal for Somalia, it warned that conflict between Somalia's powerful Islamist movement and weak Ethiopian-backed government, now on the brink of war, would derail critical aid operations.

"(...) any outbreak of conflict resulting from a deterioration in the present political stand-off would have a disastrous impact on the ability of communities to cope with worsening floods, exacerbate already precarious food security and livelihoods conditions and severely disable all flood response and other life-saving operations," a UN statement said.

Somalia, a nation of about 10 million people, has lacked a functioning central authority and any disaster response mechanisms since being plunged into anarchy after the 1991 ouster of dictator Mohamed Siad Barre.

earlier related report
Deadly floods leave 8,000 homeless in Malawi
Blantyre (AFP) Nov 29 - Floods have killed five people and displaced 8,000 others in Malawi's southern district of Chikwawa, government authorities said Wednesday. "The victims are four women and a child and were buried on Tuesday," Chikwawa district commissioner Harrison Lende, told AFP.

He said the floods hit the district, 40 kilometres (25 miles) south of the commercial capital Blantyre on Sunday, after a heavy downpour caused the Mwanza river to burst its banks.

The river originates from neighbouring Mozambique and joins the Shire River in Malawi, the only outlet of Lake Malawi.

Malawi is in the midst of its rainy season which particularly affects the south of the country.

Every year government appeals for thousands of peasants to move upland go unheeded. The villagers often say they live near the Shire river to farm in fertile soils left by the floods.

Lende said 100 houses have collapsed in 28 villages, rendering 8,000 people homeless.

"The floods damaged 915 hectares of farmland which had tender maize," he said.

He said 16 heads of cattle and 120 goats were also swept away by the floods.

Minister of Poverty and Disaster Preparedness Richard Msowoya visited the flooded district on Tuesday and assured victims that the state would dispatch relief food and plastic sheeting for makeshift tents.

Chikwawa and Nsanje districts, simply known as the Lower Shire, are Malawi's lowest point and are prone to flooding.

The Shire river in this area is also home to man-eating Nile crocodiles which attack scores of villagers every year.

Related Links
UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs
Out Of Africa