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UNITED NATIONS (AP) - The humanitarian situation in Somalia is deteriorating with the number of people in need of emergency aid reaching nearly a half million, the U.N. humanitarian office said Friday.
The poverty-stricken nation of 7 million has been mired in chaos since clan-based warlords toppled a dictatorship in 1991 and then turned on each other. Adding to its woes, a weak U.N.-backed transitional government is struggling to quash an Islamic insurgency that has killed thousands of civilians.
The U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said Somalia's plight has been deteriorating recently and listed three key factors: an extremely harsh dry season, rising insecurity and increasing high inflation rates.
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