UN needs pounds 281m for Horn relief

GENEVA (Reuter) - The United Nations said yesterday between 500 and 1,000 people were dying daily of hunger and disease in the strife-torn Horn of Africa, with 23 million more under threat. Its Department of Humanitarian Affairs said most victims in the five Horn states - Djibouti, Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia and Sudan - were women and children, many driven from their homes by fighting.

The DHA deputy chief, Charles Lamuniere, said that the lives of some 23 million people were at risk because of lack of food and medicines across the five states. He said the department was appealing for pounds 281m to cover relief operations between now and the end of the year.