Oxfam fears Somalia famine aid will peter out

A foreign aid group official says Quebecers, who were slow to respond to calls for money for relief efforts in East Africa, opened up their wallets after the United Nations declared famine in southern Somalia.

Only a few thousand dollarstrickled in daily when charities first called for donations but Oxfam-Quebec officials said Thursday that their group began receiving up to $200,000 per day from Quebecers after the U.N. decision was made public on July 21.

A drought in Somalia is expected to continue until at least October. Aid workersfear that as the crisis drags on, donor fatigue will set in.

"You're looking at two, if not three really long months where people are really going to be hungry and really going to be suffering," said Quebecer Louis Belanger, who is based in Kenya, with Oxfam.

He said conditions in Somalia are dire.

"People have walked sometimes five weeks in the Somali Desert, they've been attacked by wild animals, and bandits," said Belanger.

Belanger has seen thousands arrive in the Dadaab refugee campunable to survive on their own.

"There was a woman that arrived with a baby that had died on her back. She didn't realize it but the baby was dead on her back," he said.

The United Nations said tens of thousands of people have already died in Somalia from malnutrition and more than 11 million urgently need food.

The federal government said it will match donations made by Canadian citizens between July 6 and Sept. 16.