in VOA Special English.This week,the United Nationsdeclared a faminein parts of Somalia.A famine is declaredwhen three conditionsare reached.Hunger rates among childrenrise above thirty percent.More than two peoplein every one hundred thousanddie each day.And many peopleare unable to get foodand other basic needs.Mark Bowden,the UN humanitariancoordinator for Somalia,made the announcement Wednesdayin Nairobi, Kenya.MARK BOWDEN: "We estimatethat almost halfof the Somali population,3.7 million people,are affected by this crisisand a full 2.8 million peoplelive in the south,the most seriously affected area.It is likely that tens of thousandswill already have died,the majority of these being children."The United Nations saysa lack of rainover the past few yearshas created a famine in two areasin southern Somalia:Bakool and Lower Shabelle.Officials say the faminecould spread to other areas.This is the first timesince nineteen ninety-onethat the UN has declareda famine in Somalia.The Horn of Africais experiencing itsworst drought in sixty years.UN officials have saidmore than eleven million peopleare in need of food aid.VOA asked Mark Bowdenif the organizationcould have done moreto prevent the crisis.MARK BOWDEN: "We had beenhoping to avoid famine,we spent a lot of our resourcesthat we had at the beginningof the year specificallyto help those communitiesthat we thought might migrate,to stop migrations,which is one of the majorcauses of death.We spent our money,we didn't have enoughto scale up as we now need to."Now, the United Nations is appealingfor three hundred million dollarsin the next two months.Officials say much of thatwill be used to supply existingfeeding centersand to provide medical services.The money will also be usedto support local economies and farmers.Luca Alinovi is head of the UN Foodand Agriculture Organization for Somalia.He says the objective is to keep peoplefrom fleeing the affected areas.LUCA ALINOVI: "The only wayto prevent people moving outis to make sure that they have hopefor the future -- they canmake something out of their lives.How can they do that?They can do that only if they feelthat in the next few monthsthey will be in conditionto produce their food."Bakool and Lower Shabelle are bothunder the control of al-Shabab.On Friday the militant group calledthe UN declaration "propaganda."It also said it will permitincreased aid onlyfrom foreign agenciescurrently working in its territory.Al-Shabab is linked to al-Qaida,and the United States has declaredit a terrorist organization.Al-Shabab took controlof south-central Somaliaa few years ago.Since then, its membershave had a hostile relationshipwith foreign aid groups.Al-Shabab has accusedforeign workers of being spies.Militants have kidnappedsome workers and killed others.And they have often seized foodand other supplies meantfor starving Somalis.As a result, many foreign donorshave been unwillingto send more aid.Al-Shabab recentlyended a ban on airlifts,but a UNICEF spokeswoman,Shantha Bloemen, saysthere are no guarantees.On Wednesday,the UN children's agencyairlifted five tons of suppliesto the town of Baidoain Lower Shabelle.The supplies included food,medicine and water cleaning equipment.Ms. Bloemen sayssuch a large shipmentcould not have happenedwithout the approval of al-Shabab.SHANTHA BLOEMEN: "So yes,there was dialoguewith local authorities,and obviously theyinclude members of al-Shabab.But the bottom line isthat we succeededin getting those supplies in.Our staff were able to goto the airport and securethe materials and get it outto the people that need it."Somalia is a nation of almostten million people.It has lackeda strong central governmentsince nineteen ninety-one.And that's IN THE NEWS in VOA Special English.