Somalia: 110 dead from hunger in past 48 hours in drought

FILE - In this Saturday, Feb. 25, 2017 file photo, malnourished baby Ali Hassan, 9-months-old, left, is held by his mother Fadumo Abdi Ibrahim, who fled the drought in southern Somalia, at a feeding center in a camp in Mogadishu, Somalia. Somalia's prime minister said Saturday, March 4, 2017 that 110 people have died from hunger in the past 48 hours in a single region as a severe drought threatens millions of people. (AP Photo/Farah Abdi Warsameh, File) (The Associated Press)

FILE - In this Saturday, Feb. 18, 2017 file photo, displaced Somalis who fled the drought in southern Somalia sit in a camp in the capital Mogadishu, Somalia. Somalia's prime minister said Saturday, March 4, 2017 that 110 people have died from hunger in the past 48 hours in a single region as a severe drought threatens millions of people. (AP Photo/Farah Abdi Warsameh, File) (The Associated Press)

FILE - In this Saturday, Feb. 25, 2017 file photo, displaced Somali girls who fled the drought in southern Somalia stand in a queue to receive food handouts at a feeding center in a camp in Mogadishu, Somalia. Somalia's prime minister said Saturday, March 4, 2017 that 110 people have died from hunger in the past 48 hours in a single region as a severe drought threatens millions of people. (AP Photo/Farah Abdi Warsameh, File) (The Associated Press)

Somalia's prime minister says 110 people have died from hunger in the past 48 hours in a single region as a severe drought threatens millions of people.

This is the first drought-related death toll announced by Somalia's government since it declared a national disaster on Tuesday.

The United Nations estimates that 5 million people in this Horn of Africa nation need aid, amid warnings of a full-blown famine.

Prime Minister Hassan Ali Khaire spoke Saturday during a meeting with the Somali National Drought Committee.

The death toll he announced is from the Bay region in southwestern Somalia alone.