As ground fighting between the African Union military force and Somali militants continues, international aid groups say they are looking for other ways to re-enter the regions where they've so far been unable to send support.
Mike Weickert, a director at World Vision Canada says the battle between the AU and the al-Shabab paramilitary has been making the chances of survival for tens of thousands of famine refugees in the Horn of Africa worse.
"We are exploring all options to try to get back into areas where we can't get into right now, but so far it has been unsuccessful," Weickert told CTV News Channel in an interview from northern Somalia on Saturday.
"There's a difficult drought going on here, perhaps the worst in 60 years, but compounded significantly by the fighting," he said.
On Saturday, Somalia's President Sheik Sharif Sheik Ahmad said his government has been unable to feed the overwhelming number of citizens struggling to survive famine.
The AU, a union made up of 54 African states, said they fear that al-Shabab militants may attempt to attack the camps set up to house the displaced.
On Friday, a second United Nations plane landed in the nation's capital, Mogadishu, where AU forces gained new territory from militants. More than 20 tons of nutritional supplements were offloaded, adding to nearly 31 tons of ready-to-use food into the capital. However, more support is needed, a Somali government official told the Associated Press.
"The current famine situation in Somalia actually demands urgency, not only assessments and far-off responses, because many Somali children are dying in the county on a daily basis for lack of help," said Abdirahman Omar Osman.
"We are asking the international community to increase their efforts and help these people facing misery. We believe the famine is bigger than the UN said."
Weickert said he is "glad" to see the amount of support from the Canadian government and the money that's been coming in from Canada.
"This is a very serious condition and we really need the resources to help these people," he said.
Just this past week, the Humanitarian Coalition, a network of aid agencies that is providing help in the crisis zone, said money from Canadian donors has doubled in the past week.
By Thursday, the group said they raised $2.9 million in aid money. Some of the money was from corporations but much of it from individual Canadians.
More than 11 million people in Somalia alone, including 2.2 million who live in al-Shabab controlled territory, have been affected by the drought and famine.
With files from the Associated Press
