The UN World Food Program has halted its...

"Rising threats and attacks on humanitarian operations, as well as the imposition of a string of unacceptable demands from armed groups, have made it virtually impossible for the World Food Programme (WFP) to continue reaching up to one million people in need in southern Somalia," the WFP said in a statement.

The organization has also expressed its concern over rising hunger in the area due to "unprecedented and inhumane attacks on purely humanitarian operations." About 75% of the country"s vulnerable people are estimated to live in the south.

The WFP would continue to carry out food distributions in other regions of the country, including the capital Mogadishu.

Somalia, which has been without an effective government since 1991, is considered one of the most dangerous countries for foreigners with frequent abductions of journalists and workers of international missions.

Militants of the Al Shabaab group, which controls most of Somalia with allied Islamist

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