France, May 15 -- Almost a third of the population is affected by food insecurity, according to data published Thursday from the UN-backed group monitoring hunger and malnutrition, the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification Initiative (IPC).

Some 4.1 million people in Somalia are currently classified as being in the "crisis" phase of food insecurity and nearly 1.9 million people in the "emergency" phase - one step away from the "catastrophic" level, equal to famine.

The analysis found that Somalia's Burhakaba District, in the country's south, was at risk of famine in a "plausible worst-case scenario of failing Gu rains, soaring food prices and below expected delivery of humanitarian food security assistance".

The Gu rainy season...