Wed Dec 28, 2011 12:3AM
People from southern Somalia demonstrate against the lack of food and water at Maka Al Mukarama road in Mogadishu, Somali, on September 14, 2011.
The Islamic Republic of Iran has sent its 21st cargo of humanitarian aid to the famine-hit people of Somalia.
The Iranian Red Crescent Society said on Tuesday that the batch of humanitarian aid shipment left Bushehr port in southern Iran to Somalis who have fled drought in their country and sought refuge in Kenya.
The shipment includes 3,000 blankets and 800 tents.
East Africa - including Somalia, Kenya, Ethiopia and Djibouti - has experienced a crippling drought over the last year, but the crisis turned into famine only in Somalia, where aid groups have reduced access due to persisting violence between government forces and al-Shabab fighters.
Tens of thousands of people have died, though Mark Bowden, the UN's top humanitarian official on Somalia, said he doesn't believe there will ever be a complete and accurate death toll.
Somalia has not had a functioning government since 1991, when warlords overthrew former dictator Mohamed Siad Barre.
Somalia is one of the countries generating the highest number of refugees and internally displaced persons in the world.
AS/MA
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