United Nations Radio

Some three million children are at risk of death, disease and malnutrition in the Horn of Africa as aid fails to flow.

The warning comes fro the UN children's agency-UNICEF which says more than 14 million people in Ethiopia, Somalia, Eritrea, Kenya, Uganda and Djibouti are critically affected, and the numbers are "on an alarming upward trajectory".

In a statement Friday, UNICEF's Regional Director for East and Southern Africa Per Engebak said "strong national leadership is needed at this critical juncture, and more international funding must be quickly mobilized.

He warned that the risks to children and their families are immense and time was running out.

Ethiopia and Somalia are the two worst hit countries.

Drought in Ethiopia has put nearly five million people at risk, with 75,000 children in need of therapeutic feeding.

Somalia has suffered the same problems, exacerbated by a bloody ongoing insurgency that has forced almost 1 million civilians to flee the capital Mogadishu.

This is Donn Bobb reporting for United Nations Radio.

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