Baidoa

MOGADISHU, Somalia -- A year ago, 5-year-old Mohammed Abukar lay on his back in a decrepit hospital yard, his right leg newly amputated after a shell blast in the war that killed his family.With only his grandmother to look after him and a famine looming, the prospects of survival were dim for the bright, brown-eyed boy with an engaging smile.Last year, he lay outdoors in the heat, swatting flies with a piece of cardboard. Yesterday, on the anniversary of his operation, a smiling Mohammed loped around with his friends, helped by a steel crutch clamped to his arm.But children Mohammed's age and younger are rare in Somalia today.

Catholic Relief Service workers just returned to their Baltimore headquarters from Somalia said yesterday they believe the presence of U.S. troops will effectively inhibit the armed bands that have blocked distribution of humanitarian aid to starving thousands of Somalis."

WASHINGTON -- Much of the U.S. food aid going to famine-ravaged Somalia is corn and sorghum, which were chosen because they are less likely to be stolen by roving bands of armed thugs because Somalis don't much like them, according to President Bush's aid coordinator.Andrew Natsios, assistant administrator of the Agency for International Development, said yesterday that the grains are ideal for free food distribution because they are nutritious enough to alleviate hunger but are not popular enough to command high black market prices.

BAIDOA, Somalia -- The famine in Somalia could have been mitigated if the United Nations had dispatched relief experts months ago instead of relying on a small crew of junior staff members in the country, a senior U.N. official has said."