Africa: A Day in the Death of Somalia

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8:00 p.m. In the still darkness outside the compound, a handful of women and children shelter for the night beneath a stunted shade tree. They will be the first in line tomorrow. Others have made their way back to roofless, unkempt huts, abandoned during the fighting here, to wait out the long hours until another feeding day begins. Says UNICEF's Dr. Yeron: "I have been in the refugee camps during the Ethiopian famine, and I have never seen such a catastrophe as we have in Somalia." Still, he says, since dry rations became available here two weeks ago, the situation has improved. "Last month we had 40 people dying each day at this feeding center. Today there were just six." The doctor shakes his head. Comfort comes in strange forms in this ravaged land.