U.N. says More than 700 children have died in Somalia nutrition centers

In a new report, the U.N. children’s agency (UNICEF) said Hundreds of children have died in nutrition centers across Somalia. a day after the global body warned that parts of the country will be hit by famine in the coming months.

An official in one Somali region described famished people walking long distances with children on their shoulders to escape from drought and violence inflicted by Al Shabaab militants. Some children died along the way.

The Horn of Africa region is facing a fifth consecutive failed rainy season. A 2011 famine in Somalia claimed more than a quarter of a million lives, most of them children. The centers are for children with severe acute malnutrition as well as illnesses such as measles, cholera or malaria and offer a snapshot of the situation across the country.