UN says 260,000 died during Somalia famine

NAIROBI: Almost 260,000 Somali people, half of them children, died of dire hunger from 2010 to 2012, greatly more than was feared at the time, an official report said on Thursday.

Half of those who died were children aged below five—almost a fifth of that age group died in the hardest-hit area—and United Nations (UN) officials admitted they could have done more to prepare for the famine.