[ti:Millions of Somalis Need Lifesaving Assistance] [by:www.51voa.com] [00:00.00]更多听力请访问51VOA.COM [00:00.04]The United Nations estimates [00:02.72]that half of Somalia's population, [00:05.88]about 7.7 million people, [00:08.84]will require humanitarian assistance and protection in 2022. [00:15.72]The U.N. is asking for $1.5 billion [00:20.00]to assist 5.5 million of those considered most at-risk. [00:27.28]Many years of conflict, severe weather, disease [00:31.80]and increasing poverty have badly harmed [00:35.40]the lives of people in Somalia. [00:39.60]Many are facing severe hunger. [00:43.48]The country faces a famine because of a lack of rainfall [00:47.80]for a third year straight. [00:50.76]Adam Abdelmoula is the U.N. Humanitarian Coordinator for Somalia. [00:57.36]He says 80 percent of the country is affected by drought. [01:03.80]He told VOA that 169,000 people have left their homes [01:09.92]in search of water, food, and land for their farm animals. [01:16.72]"When I visited the countryside, I saw many dead animals," he said. [01:22.80]"The people I met with...and the elderly people I met with, [01:26.88]told me they had not seen this level of drought [01:30.00]since the 1970s and 80s." [01:34.52]Abdelmoula said Somalia has been overlooked [01:38.36]because of developing crises in other parts of the world, [01:42.04]especially in the Tigray area of northern Ethiopia and in Afghanistan. [01:49.44]He added that the international community [01:52.28]would be making a big mistake were it to overlook Somalia. [01:58.32]Abdelmoula said that in the 1990s, Somalia [02:02.28]faced similar mass migration, starvation and famine. [02:08.44]He also noted the rise of the al-Shabab militant group, [02:12.36]political unrest and widespread illegal trade during that time. [02:19.36]Recent estimates suggest that drought [02:22.60]could force up to 1.4 million Somalis [02:26.08]to leave their homes in the next six months. [02:30.92]That number is addition to the nearly 3 million people [02:34.80]already displaced by conflict and natural disasters. [02:39.88]Abdelmoula says at least 1.2 million children [02:44.80]under the age of five are likely to be severely malnourished in 2022. [02:52.04]He warns that about 300,000 children [02:55.88]are at risk of dying without immediate assistance. [03:01.76]I'm Jonathan Evans. 更多听力请访问51VOA.COM