Aid agency Trócaire has said there has been a 'hugely generous response' to its appeal for funds to help victims of the famine in southern Somalia, with over €2m contributed.
The agency says the situation in the region is extremely grave, but it is now getting food to 20,000 people in one drought stricken area in the south of the country with the help of local traders who are taking part in a new food voucher scheme.
The international effort to airlift and ship large consignments of food aid to Somalia has been hit in recent days by a serious upsurge of violence.
Somali government and African Union peacekeeping troops have been involved in fresh battles with fighters from al-Shabaab for control of large areas if Mogadishu.
Trócaire, which is working in an area of the country close to the Ethiopian and Kenyan borders, says rather than attempting to arrange large scale aid convoys it has now entered into an arrangement with local market traders to get food to individual families.
The traders, who source much of the food in Ethiopia and Kenya, are accepting vouchers issued by Trócaire and are paid through banks in these countries.
Trócaire's Global Emergencies Manager Maurice McQuillan said this was a far better approach to trucking large quantities of food and cash around south-central Somalia.
He also said it was keeping 20,000 people who would otherwise be dying, alive.
Trócaire plans to spend €1m on the scheme over the next six months and a further €1m on health and nutritional programmes.
