GOVERNMENT STRUGGLES TO ESTABLISH SECURITY

At least one in 10 Somalis have been forced out of their homes by conflict, as Islamist insurgents who ruled the country briefly in 2006 battle against the Ethiopian-backed government. Years of anarchy since the fall of dictator Mohamed Siad Barre in 1991 have left Somalia with tattered infrastructure and little law and order.

= More than 2 million need food aid
= More than 1 million displaced
= "World's worst humanitarian crisis"

Aid workers say Somalia has 1 million internally displaced people and their numbers are swelled by an exodus of some 20,000 civilians each month from the capital, Mogadishu, under attack from Islamists fighting to take control of it. The transitional government is virtually powerless in a country where clan warlords dominate.

The Islamists' six-month rule of Mogadishu was strict but relatively peaceful, until ousted by troops from Ethiopia - a U.S. ally - at the end of 2006. Foreign involvement fuelled opposition locally and internationally and appeared to boost support for the Islamists, with some analysts saying U.S. accusations of al Qaeda involvement became a self-fulfilling prophesy.

Relief agencies estimate 60 percent of Mogadishu's population - some 600,000 people - fled fighting during 2007. They say that the 15km (10 miles) between the capital and the town of Afgoye - where 250,000 people are camped along the side of the road - is probably the largest concentration of displaced people on the planet.

"(Somalia) is the most pressing humanitarian emergency in the world today - even worse than Darfur," the country representative for the U.N. refugee agency, UNHCR, said in 2008.

The U.N. World Food Programme says it hopes to get food to 2.1 million Somalis during 2008. The shortages are caused by both conflict and droughts. But food distribution is hindered by pirate attacks on sea deliveries, roadblocks, and armed attacks on aid convoys.

Aid agencies rank Somalia one of the most dangerous places in the world to work, and few organisations base international staff there.

The African Union has agreed to deploy 8,000 troops to replace the Ethiopian troops whose presence has inflamed the insurgency. However, only about 2,600 troops from Uganda and Burundi have arrived so far. Under fire and unable to stem the insurgency, they complain they're under-funded and under-staffed.

KEY FACTS

Total population (2007) 8.4 million (U.N. Department of Economic and Social Affairs (DESA) Population Division estimate, 2006)
Life expectancy (2000-2005) 47.1 (UNDP 2007)
Internally displaced people 1 million (UNHCR, November 2007)
People in need of emergency health care 2 million (WHO, 2006)
People in need of food aid 2.1 million (WFP, as of March 2008)
Doctors per 100,000 people 4 (UNDP 2007)
Population with access to safe water (2004) 29 percent (UNDP 2007)
Children under five under height for age (1996-2005) 29 percent (UNDP 2007)
Children under five underweight (1996-2005) 26 percent (UNDP 2007)
Under-five mortality rate (2004) 225 per 1,000 live births (UNDP 2007)
Children attending primary school (2000-2006) Boys - 24 percent; Girls - 20 percent (UNICEF 2008)