Somalia Government declares end to famine

Somalia Government authorities have declared that the famine that ravaged almost the entire country had ended, some six months after it was first declared.

This follows a United Nations announcement last week that famine conditions had ended, despite some 2.4 million still needing support.

The Prime Minister of the Transitional Federal Government, Dr Abdiweli Mohamed Ali, said that refugees were now being moved back to their homes.

"The Somali Government has started the relocation of those affected by the famine,” said Dr Ali in his office in Mogadishu on Wednesday.

Lack of food and water in the Horn of Africa region caused by a long dry spell had force the government and aid agencies to declare famine in parts of Somalia last year.

Thousands of families fled from the interior to the capital Mogadishu in what was described as the worst drought in 60 years in the region.

At the height of the crisis an estimated 12 million were estimated to be affected, with about $850 million poured in aid into the country.

Aid agencies in January started an operation to relocate refugees especially from south Somalia where conditions are said to have improved.

Some of the refugees said they were happy to go back home to re-start their lives again and thanked aid agencies for setting up camps and helping resettle them.