Sutherland

KoppGetz

Metropolitan Police Deputy Assistant Commissioner Sue Akers said the move came after a "significant increase in the workload" over the past fortnight. An estimated 10 million people have been affected in East Africa by the worst drought in more than half a century. More than 166,000 desperate Somalis are estimated to have fled their country to neighbouring Kenya or Ethiopia. The BBC's Africa correspondent Andrew Harding says the emotive word "famine" is used rarely and carefully by humanitarian organisations, and it is the first time since 1992 that the word has been applied to a situation in Somalia. Families have built their own homes at the camp with tree branches, wood and plastic sheets, he says. Some children look like skeletons while others have swollen legs and hands, he adds. UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said new funds to help the country were desperately needed. Save the Children's Sonia Zambakides told the BBC the situation in Somalia was shocking.