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International agency Oxfam is airlifting 47 tonnes of vital water supply and hygiene materials to Somalia’s capital Mogadishu, as the aid community scales up its effort to bring relief to the drought-stricken country.

We're increasing our emergency response in Somalia, providing water, shelter and other aid to thousands fleeing deadly new violence in the country’s capital. War, drought and malnutrition are thrusting Somalia towards even greater catastrophe.

Over 3.2 million Somalis are in desperate need of emergency assistance, a 77% increase since January 2008. More than one million people have fled their homes in the last two years.

This week, Oxfam Ambassador Actress Scarlett Johansson visited Kenya to see the devastating impact of the drought in East Africa. More than 13 million people are at risk because of a severe drought that has hit parts of Kenya, Ethiopia and Somalia. In Somalia, the crisis has escalated to a famine.

In response to the FSNAU announcement that areas of Somalia have shown some improvement, Oxfam's Country Director for Somalia, Senait Gebregziabher, said:

New military escalation in Somalia risks harming civilians and undermining efforts to recover from famine, Oxfam said, as the AU military force (AMISOM) and the Transitional Federal Government (TFG) launched a major new offensive in an area where 400,000 people are living in densely populated camps.

Oxfam says governments and donors must act with greater urgency in the face of a deteriorating crisis and rising needs in East Africa. Donors must move beyond promises and immediately turn money pledged into action on the ground, as more than half a million people are at risk of starvation.

Over 1.4 million people have been forced to flee their homes so far this year as a result of significant increasing violence in DR Congo, Sudan and Somalia, international agency Oxfam said today, as heads of state gather at the AU Summit in Libya to discuss peace and security across the continent.

A total failure of the international community to deal effectively with the Somalia crisis and help end the war is resulting in a spiral of human suffering and exodus to neighboring countries.