Deepening humanitarian crisis in Somalia

U.N. officials are warning of a crisis in East Africa caused by a severe drought and fighting in Somalia, where tens of thousands of people — mostly children — have died.

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Dec. 14, 2011

Somali children look at a Transitional Federal Government soldier carrying a belt of machine gun ammunition during patrol along the Indian Ocean coastline in Burgabo, south of Kismayu in Somalia.

Noor Khamis / Reuters

Dec. 14, 2011

Two children walk hand-in-hand toward a clinic where a Kenyan army medic was examining patients, in the seaside town of Bur Garbo, Somalia. The Kenyan military clearly realizes that the ultimate success of its mission in Somalia depends on improving the lives of residents there but equally clear is that they did not plan on having to do it all by themselves, leaving Somalis in Bur Garbo dependent on handouts from them.

Ben Curtis / AP

Dec. 14, 2011

A Kenyan army soldier talks to waiting patients outside a medical clinic in the seaside town of Bur Garbo, Somalia.

Ben Curtis / AP

Dec. 14, 2011

A fighter allied with the Somalia’s federal government walks villagers to an aid distribution point in Burgabo. Burgabo is a Somalian port village that has been secured by Kenyan forces as they advance further up the Somali coastline in search of Al-Shabaab fighters.

Carl De Souza / AFP/Getty Images

Dec. 14, 2011

A Kenyan army soldier, center, is assisted by soldiers from a pro-government Somali militia as he unloads sacks of rice from a truck for distribution to residents, in the seaside town of Bur Garbo, Somalia.

Ben Curtis / AP

Dec. 14, 2011

A Kenyan army soldier stands among piles of locally produced charcoal, a source of revenue for the town, which is now unable to be sold due to a cessation of boat trade since the Kenyan military arrived, in the seaside town of Bur Garbo, Somalia.

Ben Curtis / AP

Dec. 14, 2011

A member of a pro-government Somali militia, right, smokes a cigarette next to fishermen repairing their boat, left, which is prohibited from going too far from shore, in the seaside town of Bur Garbo.

Ben Curtis / AP

Dec. 14, 2011

A Kenya Defense Forces soldier reacts as a helicopter during patrol takes off for patrol near the Indian Ocean coast-line in Burgabo, south of Kismayu in Somalia.

Noor Khamis / Reuters

Dec. 14, 2011

Kenyan army soldiers, wearing helmets, and members of a pro-government Somali militia ride on a truck in the seaside town of Bur Garbo.

Ben Curtis / AP

Dec. 13, 2011

Female villagers speak to soldiers from both the Kenyan army and a Kenyan-allied Somali militia, in Ras Kamboni, southern Somalia. Kenyan troops and their Somali allies say they will push deeper into insurgent-controlled territory in Somalia now that rains have stopped, with the spokesman for a Kenyan-allied Somali militia saying troops would move within the week.

Ben Curtis / AP

Dec. 13, 2011

A Kenyan army soldier takes position among bushes on the beach in Ras Kamboni, southern Somalia.

Ben Curtis / AP

Sept. 6, 2011

Duniya Mohamed Abdi, 10, lies on a table in the hallway of the children's ward in a hospital in Mogadishu, Somalia. The hospital, overwhelmed by the number of famine-related cases, had neither the medicines nor the manpower to assist with her condition — epilepsy. They had turned her away before. But now, Duniya was also suffering from hunger. So her family and friends brought her back to the hospital.

Sudarsan Raghavan / The Washington Post

Sept. 6, 2011

Internally displaced women carry jerrycans filled with water from a well in Mogadishu, Somalia's capital. Famine has spread to six out of eight regions in southern Somalia, with 750,000 people facing imminent starvation, the United Nations said. Hundreds of people are dying each day despite a ramping up of aid relief.

Ismail Taxta / Reuters

Sept. 5, 2011

Internally displaced Somali people stand in line waiting to be served food in Hodan district, south of the capital, Mogadishu.

Feisal Omar / Reuters

Sept. 5, 2011

Internally displaced Somali women stand in line waiting for food to be served in Hodan. The U.N. says hundreds of people are dying each day despite increased aid relief.

Feisal Omar / Reuters

Sept. 5, 2011

A severely malnourished child from southern Somalia sits in Banadir hospital in Mogadishu.

Farah Abdi Warsameh / AP

Sept. 1, 2011

Workers carry sacks of Corn Soya Blend inside the World Food Program warehouse for distribution to refugees at Hagadera refugee camp in Dadaab near the Kenya-Somalia border.

/ Reuters

Sept. 1, 2011

A child is measured as part of a nutritional screening and supplementary food distribution organized by the International Rescue Committee and World Food Program at Hagadera refugee camp in Dadaab near the Kenya-Somalia border.

/ Reuters

Aug. 31, 2011

Displaced women wait to receive non-food items from the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees at the Maajo settlement for the internally displaced people in Somalia's capital, Mogadishu. More than 800,000 Somalis are refugees, according to U.N. estimates.

Thomas Mukoya / Reuters

Aug. 31, 2011

A Somali woman in Mogadishu sits in a makeshift shelter at a refugee camp.

Khalil Senosi / AP

Aug. 24, 2011

A girl carries her sibling at a refugee camp in Berkulan, Somalia, close to the capital of Mogadishu.

Ismail Taxta / Reuters

Aug. 9, 2011

A pregnant Somali woman sits by a tree trunk at the Ifo extension refugee camp outside Dadaab, Kenya, 60 miles from the Somali border. U.S. President Obama approved $105 million for humanitarian efforts in the Horn of Africa to combat worsening drought and famine, which has killed more than 29,000 children under the age of 5 in the past 90 days in southern Somalia alone, according to U.S. estimates. The U.N. says 640,000 Somali children are acutely malnourished, suggesting the death toll will rise.

Jerome Delay / AP

Aug. 14, 2011

Halima Hassan holds her severely malnourished son, Abdulrahman Abshir, 7 months, at the Banadir Hospital in Mogadishu, Somalia. Hospitals in Mogadishu have been overwhelmed with new arrivals, as thousands of Somalis, displaced by famine and drought, flood into the capital.

John Moore / Getty Images

Aug. 13, 2011

Mohamed Ibrahin Issak from southern Somalia, right sitting, and relatives lower the body of his 2-year-old son into a grave, after the child died in a refugee camp in Mogadishu, Somalia. The U.N. World Food Program said it is expanding food distribution efforts in famine-ravaged Somalia, where the U.N. estimates that only 20 percent of people needing aid are able to receive it because an al-Qaeda-linked group controls large portions of the country.

Farah Abdi Warsameh / AP

Aug. 8, 2011

Transitional federal government soldiers try to keep the crowds calm just before a stampede erupted at the gates of a makeshift hospital in the Hawlwadaag district of Mogadishu, Somalia. The U.N. airlifted food to famine-ridden Somalia.

Antoine de Ras / EPA

Aug. 24, 2011

An aerial view of the Seyidka refugee camp in Berkulan, Somalia, close to the capital of Mogadishu.

Ismail Taxta / Reuters

Aug. 19, 2011

A mother stays by her malnourished son's side in a Turkish field hospital in Mogadishu, Somalia. The tented hospital, opened by the Turkish Ministry of Health, is located next to a large camp for Somalis displaced by famine and drought.

John Moore / Getty Images

Aug. 16, 2011

A security guard strikes women while brusquely pushing back a crowd waiting to take cooked food from a feeding center in Mogadishu, Somalia. The center, which serves cooked meals prepared with the aid from the U.N. World Food Program, helps feed thousands of Somalis who have fled famine and drought in the countryside and have settled in makeshift camps throughout the capital city.

John Moore / Getty Images

Aug. 16, 2011

A mother mourns the death of her son at the Banadir hospital in Mogadishu. The hospital has been overwhelmed as sickness spreads through camps for people displaced by drought and famine. The U.S. government estimates that some 30,000 children have died in southern Somalia in the last 90 days from the crisis.

John Moore / Getty Images

Aug. 16, 2011

Hassan Abdulkadir Adan, left, and Moktar Hassan Garad, right, from southern Somalia carry their dead 7-year-old and 5-year-old boys, respectively, from a local hospital in Mogadishu. The U.N. World Food Program said it is expanding food distribution efforts in famine-ravaged Somalia, where the U.N. estimates only 20 percent of people needing aid are able to receive it because an al-Qaeda-linked group controls large portions of the country.

Farah Abdi Warsameh / AP

Aug. 16, 2011

Halimu Mohamed holds her 7-month-old daughter Hibo underneath a mosquito tent in a hospital in Somalia. Halimu and Hibo, who is suffering from vomiting and diarrhea, were among the lucky few to receive a mosquito tent as a donation from an Arabic NGO.

Roberto Schmidt / AFP/Getty Images

Aug. 17, 2011

Somalis receive medical treatment at an outpatient hospital run by the African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM) in Mogadishu. More than 10,000 people are treated monthly at AMISOM’s three hospitals in Mogadishu. Ugandan doctors there say many of the ailments, especially among children, are related to malnutrition.

John Moore / Getty Images

Aug. 15, 2011

A woman from southern Somalia holds her malnourished child at a refugee camp in Mogadishu. The U.N. World Food Program said Saturday that it is expanding its food distribution efforts in famine-struck Somalia, where the U.N. says only 20 percent of people needing aid are getting it.

Farah Abdi Warsameh / AP

Aug. 15, 2011

A mother holds the hand of her child being fed by an intravenous drip at a local hospital in Mogadishu. The child is one of many young patients who have been admitted to hospitals suffering from malnourishment. More than 100,000 people have fled into Somalia's famine-hit and war-torn capital in the past two months in search of food, water and medicine. Some 12 million people in parts of Ethiopia, Djibouti, Kenya, Uganda and Somalia are in danger of starvation in the wake of the region's worst drought in decades. Somalia is the country hardest hit by the Horn of Africa's drought, with five areas experiencing famine.

Roberto Schmidt / AFP/Getty Images

Aug. 15, 2011

A Somali woman sits on the floor as her sick baby, who is suffering from malnutrition, lies on a desk and is fed through an intravenous drip at a local hospital in Mogadishu.

Roberto Schmidt / AFP/Getty Images

Aug. 15, 2011

Abukar Ibrahim, right, helps his 5-year-old daughter, Maryam, sip medicine at a local hospital in Mogadishu. Maryam was brought to the hospital due to a bout of severe diarrhea and vomiting. The U.N. warned that a cholera outbreak in Somalia, which claimed at least 181 lives in just one Mogadishu hospital this year, could quickly spread, as thousands flee famine in the south. The intestinal infection, often linked to contaminated drinking water, causes severe diarrhea and vomiting, leaving small children especially vulnerable to death from dehydration, according to the U.N.

Roberto Schmidt / AFP/Getty Images

Aug. 13, 2011

Safia Adem mourns for her 3-year-old son in a camp of displaced Somalis within the rubble of the Cathedral of Mogadishu. The malnourished boy died two weeks after his family fled from southern Somalia.

John Moore / Getty Images

Aug. 11, 2011

A girl stands outside a makeshift shelter in a refugee camp in Mogadishu.

Farah Abdi Warsameh / AP

Aug. 12, 2011

Refugees tie twigs together as they build a makeshift shelter in Mogadishu.

Roberto Schmidt / AFP/Getty Images

Aug. 11, 2011

A Somali boy sings an Irish song to his classmates at a primary school in the Dagahaley refugee camp north of Dadaab, eastern Kenya.

Jerome Delay / AP

Aug. 12, 2011

Turkish port workers in Istanbul load a ship with humanitarian aid bound for Somalia.

Osman Orsal / Reuters

Aug. 10, 2011

Relatives of Ibrahim Shegow of southern Somalia watch as he lowers the body of his 7-month-old boy into a grave in a refugee camp in Mogadishu, Somalia. The number of people fleeing famine-hit areas of Somalia is likely to surge and could overwhelm international aid efforts in the Horn of Africa, a U.N. aid official said.

Farah Abdi Warsameh / AP

Aug. 10, 2011

A mother looks at her malnourished and dehydrated child lying on a bed in Banadir Hospital in Mogadishu, Somalia. The U.N. says about 3.6 million people are at risk of starvation in Somalia as well as about 12 million people across the Horn of Africa region, including in Ethiopia and Kenya.

HO / Reuters

Aug. 7, 2011

Muslim clerics walk in the dust on the dirt road outside Dadaab, Kenya, 60 miles from the Somali border. The drought and famine in the Horn of Africa has killed more than 29,000 children under the age of 5 in the past 90 days in southern Somalia alone, according to U.S. estimates. The U.N. says 640,000 Somali children are acutely malnourished, suggesting the death toll of small children will rise.

Jerome Delay / AP

Aug. 7, 2011

Somali refugees carry their donated rations of food in the eastern Kenyan village of Hagadera near Dadaab, roughly 60 miles from the Somali border.

Jerome Delay / AP

Aug. 7, 2011

A Somali child sits in the Ifo Extension refugee camp outside Dadaab, Kenya.

Jerome Delay / AP

Aug. 6, 2011

The body of 12-month-old Liin Muhumed Surow lays before burial at the Ifo Extension refugee camp outside Dadaab, Kenya. The child died of malnutrition 25 days after reaching the camp, her father Mumumed said.

Jerome Delay / AP

Aug. 3, 2011

A mother holds her malnourished child from southern Somali, at a congested refugee camp in Mogadishu, Somalia, The United Nations expects famine to spread to all of southern Somalia within a month, forcing tens of thousands to flee into the capital of Mogadishu.

Farah Abdi Warsameh / AP

Aug. 3, 2011

Somalis from the south of the country carry their belongings as they arrive in the capital, Mogadishu.

Farah Abdi Warsameh / AP

Aug. 3, 2011

A Somali family from the south of the country carry their belongings as they arrive in Mogadishu.

Farah Abdi Warsameh / AP

Aug. 2, 2011

Aden, a three-year-old Somali refugee with his father, Abdille, recovers at the stabilization center at Hagadere refugee area after arriving a week earlier on the verge of death from severe malnutrition. Aden lost his mother to starvation during the journey from southern Somalia and is now recovering at the center run by the International Rescue Committee supported by UNICEF.

Tony Karumba / AFP/Getty Images

Aug. 2, 2011

A Somali father and daughter sit at the head of a line with other refugees at a registration center at Dagahaley refugee site within the Dadaab complex. Roughly 3.7 million people in Somalia — about a third of the population — are on the brink of starvation, and aid agencies are stretched in trying to cope with a daily influx of Somali's escaping not only drought but also al-Shabab extremists who have taken advantage of the situation to arrest and recruit men trying to escape the famine.

Tony Karumba / AFP/Getty Images

Aug. 2, 2011

Somali refugees line up at a registration center at Dagahaley refugee site within the Dadaab complex to be registered to receive aid.

Tony Karumba / AFP/Getty Images

Aug. 1, 2011

Howa Hassan, a blind Somali octogenarian refugee, sits with her grandchildren as one of them is vaccinated at a pediatric vaccination center at Hagadere refugee site in the Dadaab refugee complex in Kenya’s northeast province.

Tony Karumba / AFP/Getty Images

Aug 1, 2011

A newly arrived refugee displays his food ration card as he queues for relief at a the World Food Program distribution center at the Ifo refugee camp in Dadaab, near the Kenya-Somalia border. The whole of drought- and conflict-wracked southern Somalia is heading into famine as the Horn of Africa food crisis deepens, the United Nations said. In a report for countries sending aid, the U.N.'s umbrella humanitarian agency OCHA said the "crisis in southern Somalia is expected to continue to worsen through 2011, with all areas of the south slipping into famine."

Thomas Mukoya / Reuters

Aug 1, 2011

A World Food Program worker walks past bags of relief food at a distribution center at the Ifo refugee camp in Dadaab, near the Kenya-Somalia border.

Thomas Mukoya / Reuters

Aug 1, 2011

Internally displaced children line up for food supplies at the Badbado refugee camp in the south of capital Mogadishu. Somalia's famine refugees, weakened by months of drought, on Monday began Islam's punishing Ramadan fast amid the tents and shacks of the world's largest refugee camp.

Omar Faruk / Reuters

Aug 1, 2011

Children lay on beds at Banadir hospital in Mogadishu, Somalia.Tens of thousands of famine-stricken Somali refugees were cold and drenched after torrential rains overnight pounded their makeshift structures in the capital, Mogadishu. Rains are needed to plant crops and alleviate the drought that is causing famine in Somalia but on Saturday night the rains added to the misery of refugees who live in structures made of sticks and pieces of cloth.

Farah Abdi Warsameh / AP

July 31, 2011

Children run in a displacement camp in Dadaab, Kenya. Dadaab, a camp designed for 90,000 people now houses around 440,000 refugees. Almost all are from war-ravaged Somalia. Some have been here for more than 20 years, when the country first collapsed into anarchy. But now more than 1,000 are arriving daily, fleeing fighting or hunger.

Schalk van Zuydam / AP

July 28, 2011

Four-day-old Muslima Isak, a newly arrived Somali refugee, is seen at a reception center in the Dagahaley refugee camp in Dadaab, near the Kenya-Somalia border. Her mother, Habiba Isak, had barely recovered from trekking hundreds of miles to refuge in Kenya from drought-hit Baidoa, the nerve center of Islamist rebels fighting in southern Somalia, when the contractions started.

Thomas Mukoya / Reuters

July 30, 2011

A newly arrived refugee woman from Baidoa in Somalia camps outside Ifo refugee camp in Dadaab, near the Kenya-Somalia border.

Thomas Mukoya / Reuters

July 29, 2011

A humanitarian aid worker's car drives past the carcass of a dead cow in the Kenya-Somalia border town of Liboi.

Thomas Mukoya / Reuters

July 28, 2011

Internally displaced Somali people receive food in the Madina district south of capital Mogadishu. Aid groups, which have been clamoring for money to help famine-stricken Somalia, are struggling to reach millions in the affected areas. Some 3.7 million Somalis risk starvation in two regions of south Somalia controlled by Islamist al Shabaab militants. Yet more than 2 million of them have not received any help.

Feisal Omar / Reuters

July 26, 2011

The arm of Mihag Gedi Farah, a seven-month-old child, is held by his mother in a field hospital of the International Rescue Committee in the town of Dadaab, Kenya. The U.N. will airlift emergency rations this week to parts of drought-ravaged Somalia that militants banned it from more than two years ago, in a crisis intervention to keep hungry refugees from dying along what an official calls the "roads of death." Tens of thousands already have trekked to neighboring Kenya and Ethiopia, hoping to get aid in refugee camps.

Schalk van Zuydam / AP

July 26, 2011

Somalis receive food at a feeding center in Mogadishu, Somalia.

Farah Abdi Warsameh / AP

July 26, 2011

Somalis perform funeral prayers with relatives of a malnourished child who died at a refugee camp in Mogadishu. Some thousands of people have arrived in Mogadishu seeking aid and The World Food Program executive director Josette Sheeran said they can't reach the estimated 2.2 million Somalis in desperate need of aid who are in militant-controlled areas of Somalia.

Farah Abdi Warsameh / AP

July 25, 2011

A unidentified child awaits treatment in a Doctors Without Borders field hospital in the town of Dadaab, Kenya. A U.N. agency hosted an emergency meeting in Rome on Monday to mobilize action to fight famine in Somalia, Kenya and other drought-hit nations in East Africa, estimating that more than 11 million people need help in the drought-hit region.

Schalk van Zuydam / AP

July 25, 2011

An unidentified child is weighed at a Doctors Without Borders field hospital in the town of Dadaab, Kenya. Somalia's famine will be five times as bad by Christmas unless the international community increases its food aid, Australia's foreign minister said during a visit to Somalia, even as the International Red Cross distributed 400 tons of food in hard-to-reach areas of southern Somalia.

Schalk van Zuydam / AP

July 23, 2011

Somali refugees line up for a bus to transport them from a registration center to the Dagahaley refugee camp, part of the giant Dadaab refugee settlement in Dadaab, Kenya.

Oli Scarff/Getty Images

July 22, 2011

The refugee camp at Dadaab in Kenya, near the border with Somalia, was designed in the early 1990s to accommodate 90,000 people, but the United Nations estimates more than four times that number reside there.

Oli Scarff / Getty Images

July 22, 2011

Somali refugee children collect firewood on the edge of the Ifo refugee camp in Kenya. The civil war in Somalia and the worst drought to affect the Horn of Africa in six decades are threatening the lives of an estimated 12 million people.

Oli Scarff / Getty Images

July 23, 2011

Somali refugees wait in the registration area of the Dagahaley camp.

Oli Scarff / Getty Images

July 24, 2011

A malnourished child from southern Somalia is measured during medical assessment at Banadir hospital in Mogadishu. Thousands of people have arrived in Mogadishu seeking aid. World Food Program executive director Josette Sheeran said Saturday that the organization can't reach the estimated 2.2 million Somalis who are in desperate need of aid in militant-controlled areas of Somalia.

Farah Abdi Warsameh / AP

July 20, 2011

A refugee child stands on the outskirts of the Dagahaley refugee camp, which makes up part of the giant Dadaab refugee settlement in Kenya.

Oli Scarff / Getty Images

July 19, 2011

Somali refugees walk past a food supply holding tent at the Kobe refugee camp near the Ethiopia-Somalia border.

Roberto Schmidt / AFP/Getty Images

July 20, 2011

Somalis wait in the registration area of the Ifo refugee camp, part of the giant Dadaab refugee settlement in Kenya.

Oli Scarff / Getty Images

July 20, 2011

A woman carrying a baby lines up for food in a camp established by the Somali Transitional Federal Government.

/ Reuters

July 20, 2011

A Somali child is helped up in the registration area of the Ifo refugee camp, part of the Dadaab settlement in Kenya.

Oli Scarff / Getty Images

July 20, 2011

An elderly refugee rests in the Ifo refugee camp, part of the giant Dadaab refugee settlement in Kenya.

Oli Scarff / Getty Images

July 20, 2011

A refugee child drinks from a water container in the Ifo refugee camp in Kenya.

Oli Scarff / Getty Images

July 20, 2011

Drought-stricken camels drink water from a tank near Harfo, Somalia.

Thomas Mukoya / Reuters

July 19, 2011

Somali refugees hold some of the non-food items given to them at the Kobe camp inside the Dolo Ado refugee camp in southern Ethiopia. The United Nations refugee agency said death rates among refugees arriving in Ethiopia's Dolo Ado area reached 7.4 deaths per 10,000 in June, 15 times the baseline rate in sub-Sahara Africa. The U.N. said famine has hit two parts of rebel-held Somalia, with up to 350,000 people affected in the most severe food crisis in Africa for two decades. The extreme drought is affecting more than 10 million people in the Horn of Africa.

Roberto Schmidt / AFP/Getty Images

July 19, 2011

Somali refugees walk through a transit center at the Dolo Ado refugee camp near the Ethiopia-Somalia border. Refugees are being housed at the transit center while a new camp is being set up by the Ethiopian government and international aid organizations. Thousands of Somalis have fled in recent months to neighboring Ethiopia and Kenya in search of food and water, with many dying along the way, as the region suffers what the U.N. has described as the worst drought in decades.

Roberto Schmidt / AFP/Getty Images

July 19, 2011

A child is given a vaccine by Medecins Sans Frontieres in the Dagahaley refugee camp which makes up part of the giant Dadaab refugee settlement in Kenya. The refugee camp, located close to the Kenyan border with Somalia, was designed in the early 1990s to accommodate 90,000 people but the U.N. estimates more than four times as many reside there. Civil war in Somalia and the worst drought to affect the Horn of Africa in six decades threatens the lives of an estimated 12 million people.

Oli Scarff / Getty Images

July 19, 2011

An displaced woman sits outside in the new settlement in Somalia's capital Mogadishu. The United Nations is set to declare famine in parts of southern Somalia, aid officials said, signalling to donors the need for more aid and to insurgents the population's suffering is taken seriously.

Ismail Taxta / Reuters

July 19, 2011

Refugees who recently crossed the border from Somalia into southern Ethiopia cluster between two food tents, waiting to be called to collect food at the Kobe refugee camp. Ethiopian authorities and non-governmental organizations have accommodated almost 25,000 refugees at the camp since it was set up less then three weeks ago.

Roberto Schmidt / AFP/Getty Images

July 19, 2011

A boy gets dressed in a makeshift stick hut on the outskirts in the Dagahaley refugee camp which makes up part of the giant Dadaab refugee settlement in Dadaab, Kenya.

Oli Scarff / Getty Images

July 19, 2011

Farhiya, center, holds her 7-year-old sister Suladan by the hand as they follow their mother and brothers at the reception center of the Dolo Ado refugee camp near the Ethiopia-Somalia border.

Roberto Schmidt / AFP/Getty Images

July 19, 2011

Refugees wait in the registration area of the Dagahaley refugee camp which makes up part of the giant Dadaab refugee settlement in Kenya.

Oli Scarff / Getty Images

July 19, 2011

Refugees stand at the razor-wire fence of the Dagahaley refugee camp in Dadaab, Kenya.

Oli Scarff / Getty Images

July 19, 2011

A young boy rests by empty USAID vegetable oil tins in the Dagahaley refugee camp in Dadaab, Kenya.

Oli Scarff / Getty Images

July 18, 2011

Internally displaced Somali people stand in a line to receive food in Wabari district, southern Mogadishu.

Ismail Taxta / Reuters

July 18, 2011

Internally displaced Somali children receive food in Wabari district, southern Mogadishu.

Ismail Taxta / Reuters

July 18, 2011

Somali displaced people carry the body of a child who died of malnutrition at a camp near Mogadishu airport. People at the camp are facing dire humanitarian crises including lack of proper shelter, clean water, medicine and sufficient food. The U.N. food agency will host a crisis meeting on the escalating situation in drought-hit Somalia on July 25, a spokesman for the organization announced.

Mustafa Abdi / AFP/Getty Images

July 20, 2011

Refugees wait for aid.

/ Getty Images

July 17, 2011

Internally displaced people hold up their identity cards at a camp in Badbado, in southern Mogadishu, where thousands of displaced Somalis have gathered as they flee from a severe drought. The U.N. said it had made its first delivery of aid to a rebel-held Somalia region in two years, as calls mounted for more international help to deal with the devastating drought in the Horn of Africa.

Abdurashid Abdulle / AFP/Getty Images

July 12, 2011

A displaced Somali family arrives with their belongings at a camp in southern Mogadishu, where the Somalia's transitional government has set up a new internally displaced people camp for families uprooted by a severe drought. The World Food Program said it was mulling a return to Somali regions controlled by the radical Shebab rebels, who last week appealed for help for thousands of drought-ravaged civilians. The al-Qaeda-inspired insurgents expelled foreign aid groups from their fiefdoms in southern and central Somalia two years ago.

AFP/Getty Images

July 12, 2011

Families displaced by a severe drought in southern Somalia arrive on a truck at a new camp in southern Mogadishu, where the Somalia's transitional government has set up a camp for the uprooted families.

Abdurashid Abdulle / AFP/Getty Images

July 13, 2011

Somalis who fled from southern Somalia wait to receive food at a camp in Mogadishu, ahead of a distribution by a local NGO. Thousands of people have arrived in Mogadishu over the past two weeks seeking assistance, and the number is increasing by the day, because of lack of water and food.

Mohamed Sheikh Nor / AP

July 12, 2011

Somali families stand in line for food at a new camp in southern Mogadishu.

Abdurashid Abdulle / AFP/Getty Images

July 13, 2011

A woman from southern Somalia prepares food as her children watch at a camp for internally displaced people in Mogadishu.

Mohamed Sheikh Nor / AP

July 13, 2011

Somalis hold pots and containers as they wait to receive food at a camp in Mogadishu. More than 11 million people in the Horn of Africa are confronting the worst drought in decades and need urgent assistance to stay alive, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said Tuesday.

Mohamed Sheikh Nor / AP

July 13, 2011

A woman from southern Somalia struggles to build a makeshift shelter from tree branches at a camp in Mogadishu.

Mohamed Sheikh Nor / AP

July 13, 2011

A Somali woman sits with her children in an open area in a makeshift shelter in a refugee camp in Mogadishu. More than 10 million people are now affected in drought-stricken areas of Djibouti, Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia and Uganda, and the situation is deteriorating.

Mohamed Sheikh Nor / AP

July 12, 2011

A severely malnourished child from southern Somalia is comforted by his mother in Banadir hospital in Mogadishu.

Farah Abdi Warsameh / AP

July 12, 2011

Two severely malnourished children from southern Somalia lie on a table in Banadir hospital.

Farah Abdi Warsameh / AP

July 12, 2011

A severely malnourished child from southern Somalia lies on bed at Banadir hospital.

Farah Abdi Warsameh / AP

July 12, 2011

Mark Bowden, left, U.N. humanitarian coordinator for Somalia, walks with Somali Defense Minister Abdihakim Mohamud Haji Fiqi during an assessment tour on the drought situation in capital Mogadishu.

Ismail Taxta / Reuters

July 12, 2011

Somalis get off the trucks rented by Somali government at a new camp in southern Mogadishu's Hosh neighborhood.

Farah Abdi Warsameh / AP

July 12, 2011

Somali refugees carry their few belongings as they walk between camps in search of a place to sleep, outside Dadaab, Kenya.

Rebecca Blackwell / AP

July 12, 2011

Newly arrived Somali refugees hold their babies as they wait in line to receive food aid, after registering as refugees at a reception center in Dagahaley Camp, outside Dadaab, Kenya.

Rebecca Blackwell / AP

July 12, 2011

Sheik Yare Abdi washes the body of 4-year-old Aden Ibrahim in preparation for burial in accordance with Somali tradition, inside the makeshift shelter where Aden's family lives among other newly arrived Somali refugees on the outskirts of Ifo II Camp, outside Dadaab, Kenya. Doctors were unable to save Aden, who died of diarrhea-related dehydration after four days of inpatient care.

Rebecca Blackwell / AP

July 12, 2011

Somalis carry away cooking pots, water containers and plastic mats as they receive an initial supply of food and other items after registering as refugees at a reception center at Dagahaley Camp, outside Dadaab, Kenya.

Rebecca Blackwell / AP

July 12, 2011

Somali refugee and goat herder Adan Issick walks past unoccupied refugee housing at Ifo II, a camp expansion trapped in limbo as it awaits final approval by the Kenyan government, outside Dadaab, Kenya.

Rebecca Blackwell / AP

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PARIS, FRANCE - MAY 29: Serena Williams of USA stretches to plays a forehand in her women's singles first round match between Serena Williams of USA and Virginie Razzano of France during day three of the French Open at Roland Garros on May 29, 2012 in Paris, France. (Photo by Mike Hewitt/Getty Images)

French Open results: Serena Williams loses, Maria Sharapova cruises

The American tennis star lost in the first round of a Grand Slam event.

Winnie Pajcic, 9, holds on to a railing as she leans back in the wind during a visit to Stockton Park in Ortega, Fla., in the aftermath of Tropical Storm Beryl on Monday May 28, 2012. Beryl came ashore early Monday near Jacksonville Beach with near-hurricane-strength winds of 70 mph. (AP Photo/The Florida Times-Union, Kelly Jordan)

Tropical storm Beryl, Flugtag, Rolling Thunder, Memorial Day and more in the day in photos

Tropical storm Beryl, Flugtag, Rolling Thunder, Memorial Day and more.

Camels rest at a watering hole outside the town of Aleg May 25, 2012. REUTERS/Joe Penney (MAURITANIA - Tags: ANIMALS SOCIETY)

Camels, tigers, turtles, a giant stag beetle and more in animal views

Camels, tigers, turtles, a giant stag beetle and more.

ANNAPOLIS, MD- MAY 29: Graduates cheer as the Blue Angels fly over during the 100th anniversary of the United States Naval Academy Graduation and Commissioning Ceremonies in Annapolis, Maryland, on Tuesday, May 29, 2012. U.S Sec. of Defense Leon Edward Panetta gave the graduation address. (Photo by Nikki Kahn/The Washington Post)

U.S. Naval Academy graduation

Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta gave the commencement address at the ceremony.

LAS VEGAS, NV - MAY 26: Singer/actress Jennifer Lopez (C) performs with dancers during the Q'Viva! The Chosen Live show at the Mandalay Bay Events Center on May 26, 2012 in Las Vegas, Nevada. (Photo by Ethan Miller/Getty Images)

Eye on entertainment

Jennifer Lopez, Marc Anthony, Lil Jon, Eddie Van Halen, Mariah Carey and other celebrities.

Doc Watson, bluegrass and folk legend, dies at 89

The blind singer and guitarist was a Grammy winner, known for his flat-picking style of guitar playing.

Henry, a calf, sustained a head wound and required stitches after being slashed over the weekend.

Farm animals attacked in Fairfax

A calf, two goats and a chicken were slashed over the weekend at Frying Pan Farm Park in Herndon.

COVINGTON, LA - MAY 14: Brother Emmanuel Labrise of St. Joseph's Abbey prepares a casket for lining on May 15, 2012 in Covington, Louisiana. Louisiana law forbids those who are not licensed funeral directors from selling caskets. And since Hurricane Katrina leveled the timberlands that once provided the main source of funding for the abbey, the monks have attempted to make a living by building and selling simple cypress caskets. The monks won their first round last year, and have a hearing at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit in June. (Photo by Sean Gardner/For the Washington Post)

Louisiana monks fight for the right to sell coffins

Federal court case pits a group of monks against the funeral home industry.

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