UN says Somalia famine likely to spread

UN refugee agency spokeswoman Fatoumata Lejeune-Kaba said all regions of southern Somalia are likely to be facing famine by late August or early September, adding to the massive influx into Somali capital Mogadishu.Aid groups say the calamity has been exacerbated in parts of Somalia by al Shabaab, the Al Qaeda-linked group that controls the countrys hardest-hit areas, the Wall Street Journal reported.The UN and aid agencies are warning that the famine in Somalia will grow in size and severity unless the world community responds with more aid.The UN says another $1.4 billion is needed to assist more than 12 million people in Kenya, Ethiopia, Somalia and Djibouti that need food aid.The Obama administration sought to assure aid groups that they can deliver desperately needed food to famine-stricken parts of Somalia without fear of prosecution, even if some assistance is diverted to al Qaeda-linked extremists.Administration officials said the U.S. has issued new guidelines on laws prohibiting material assistance to al Shabaab. Charities must only pledge their best efforts to combat attempts by al Shabaab to hoard aid or collect taxes on supplies, they said.The UN spokeswoman said in Thursday that 100,000 people have already fled to the war-ravaged city because of famine — over 27,000 in July alone.The UNs humanitarian aid office says a quarter of Somalias 7.5 million population is now internally uprooted.