This week, the United Nationsdeclared an official end to the faminein southern Somalia.Recent rains, an improved harvestand a major humanitarian aid effortduring the past six monthshelped reduce the threat of starvation.But the new head of the U.N. Foodand Agriculture Organization saysmillions of people are still at risk.Director-General Jose Graziano da Silva saysconditions could again worsen unless the aid continuesduring the next one hundred days.JOSE GRAZIANO DA SILVA: "If we do not keep in support,especially those three months that we have in drought seasonuntil came the rain season in April,those people will not survive. We will have famine back."Mr. da Silva traveled this week to southern Somalia.On Friday he told reporters in Kenyathat no more areas of Somalia are under famine conditions.But in his words,"good news does not mean that the crisis is over."JOSE GRAZIANO DA SILVA: "We still have a huge problemin the region particularly in Somaliaand also in the other countriesthat you know are facing similar situationlike the Sahel region in particular the South Sudan.''United Nations officials now list the situation in Somaliaas a "humanitarian emergency" instead of a famine."Famine" means two adults or four childrenper ten thousand people die of hunger each dayand a third of children are severely malnourished.The FAO and the Famine Early Warning Network saymore than two million people still need emergency assistance.That is almost one-third of Somalia's population.The United Nations says tens of thousand of people have diedsince the famine was first declaredin parts of southern Somalia in July.Now, refugees have started slowly returningafter a good harvest in the recent rainy season.Hundreds of thousands of Somalis fled to camps in Kenya,Ethiopia and the Somali capital, Mogadishu,in search of food and water.Part of the problem: the militant group al-Shababhas restricted international aid in the areas it controls.In any conflict area, helping those in needcan require complex negotiations and compromise.The medical aid group Doctors Without Borders worksin many conflict areas, including Somalia.The group is also known as MSF,for Medecins Sans Frontieres in French.The group has published a book called"Humanitarian Negotiations Revealed: The MSF Experience."In recent years, medical and humanitarian workershave been increasingly in danger.MICHAEL NEUMAN: "We got ourselves five workers killedin Afghanistan in two thousand four.We got three workers killed in Somalia,expulsion in Niger and in Sudan."Michael Neuman is director of the MSF research centerin Paris and co-author of the book.He says there is no way to avoid negotiationif medical treatment is to be provided in conflict areas.Negotiations center on a search for common interestsbetween different sides and opposing groups.In the end, he says,"you fight for what you believe in to the maximum,but know that you may not achieve it all."And that's IN THE NEWS in VOA Special English.