Canada is committed to another state for the life of the occupation of nearly 12 million in Horn of Africa are now facing severe drought and famine, said Canada's Minister of International Cooperation, Beverley Oda, en route to Kenya on Wednesday (07/20/2011).

The UN on Wednesday, asking for additional humanitarian aid amounting to 500 million U.S. dollars in 2011 in order to overcome what he called the worst food crisis in Africa in the last 20 years. "The situation facing communities in the region, especially women and children, horrible. Canada is committed to making a real difference in their lives," said Oda.

In Kenya, Oda will visit refugee camps in Dadaab, where thousands of Somalis arriving every day. Camps, was originally intended to 90,000 refugees, but is now inhabited by nearly 400,000 people. Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) said earlier, 12 million people in the drought-stricken Horn of Africa requires urgent assistance. Organization under the United Nations was applying for funding 120 million dollars to assist farmers who suffer.

"Approximately 12 million people in the Horn of Africa now need emergency aid," FAO said in a statement, adding that hundreds of people died every day due to the crisis. FAO to apply for assistance worth 120 million dollars to face the impact of drought in the Horn of Africa to provide emergency agricultural assistance, including in parts of Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia and Uganda, said the organization is based in Rome.

Director of FAO, Jacques Diouf, who will visit Kenya to see first hand the crisis with French Agriculture Minister Bruno Lemaire, said "hundreds of people die every day and if we do not act now it will be many more deaths". "We must prevent the tragedy of humanity at large. And a lot of food aid is needed now, we must also increase investment and sustainable immediate and medium term interventions that help farmers," he said.

The UN had earlier said the two regions of southern Somalia is now controlled by insurgents hit by famine and warned it would expand if there is no immediate action.

FAO said it needed 70 million million dollars for it and the rest of Somalia to Ethiopia, Kenya, Djibouti and Uganda. "Due to conflicts and ,, limited access for humanitarian organizations, plus crop failure and shortage of food assistance has compromised the entire population in southern Somalia," FAO said.

FAO said it would host talks about emergency relief in Rome on Monday to address the growing crisis in the Horn of Africa and to mobilize international support.