About 6.5 million people in Somalia face acute hunger due to drought, the government and the United Nations said on Tuesday, sounding the alarm days after the U.N.'s food agency warned that food aid could grind to a halt by April without new funding.

More than a third of those facing acute malnutrition are children, Somalia's government and the United Nations Somalia said in a joint statement. The crisis has forced tens of thousands of people to flee their homes, with many crowding into camps in Mogadishu and other cities.

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