One of the worst droughts to hit the Horn of Africa in years is causing an Islamist militant group to change its mind about international aid agencies.
Al-Shabab says it will welcome all aid agencies, including non-Muslim ones, to provide food and other supplies to Somalis living in areas under its control.
Spokesman Sheik Ali Mohamud Rage told reporters in Mogadishu late Tuesday the groups would be allowed in the country as long as they first contact al-Shabab's drought committee and have only the objective of humanitarian relief.
The U.S. State Department said Wednesday it intends to test that willingness.
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton convened a meeting of senior officials of the State Department and the U.S. Agency for International Development to discuss the Horn of Africa drought. A senior official there said she issued instructions to do whatever is possible to avoid another humanitarian disaster in the region.
Drought conditions in Somalia and parts of Ethiopia and Kenya are being compared to those of the early 1990s, when famine claimed more than 300,000 lives.
In the past, al-Shabab banned aid agencies from entering into its territory, saying they could host spies or promote an un-Islamic way of life. The militant group also said food aid creates dependency.
Last year, the United Nations World Food Program suspended operations in parts of Somalia because of threats and extortion demands from al-Shabab.
The United Nations refugee agency said Tuesday that drought and years of civil conflict have now driven one-quarter of Somalia's 7.5 million people from their homes, either to internal camps or to refugee camps abroad.
The refugee agency said it is especially disturbed by the high levels of malnutrition among the newest Somali refugees. It said more than half of Somali children arriving in Ethiopia are seriously malnourished, as are about 40 percent arriving in Kenya. It said many children are so weak when they arrive that they die within 24 hours despite emergency care and feeding.
The United Nations and international relief groups say persistent drought in the Horn of Africa has left up to 10 million needing food aid. The British groups Oxfam and Save the Children launched an emergency appeal this week.
They also are raising alarm about conditions at the Dadaab refugee camps in Kenya. The U.N. says the camps, originally built to hold 90,000 people, now hold more than 380,000