Mogadishu , Somalia ( CNN ) -- War forced tens of thousands of Somalis to flee their capital , Mogadishu . Famine is bringing them back . Hungry and sick Somalis are trekking from their homes in famine-struck southern areas in search of food , water and medicine . More than 50,000 , by a July 18 United Nations count , have arrived in Mogadishu , a city destroyed by two decades of conflict . The United Nations refugee agency called it an `` unprecedented influx '' into a city that was notorious for exodus . The people are arriving in a city where the sound of gunfire became as common as the start of a car engine ; where tales of dismemberment and executions and other heinous deeds emanate from neighborhoods shut off from any form of governance . What has caused the East Africa crisis ? It is exceedingly difficult to deliver aid in Mogadishu . Yet , people who have nothing left to lose hope to get lucky at feeding camps set up by Islamic charities and the United Nations ' food agency . World Food Programme Executive Director Josette Sheeran acknowledged the dire need to get food supplies into southern Somalia , where the al Qaeda-linked militant group Al-Shabaab recently lifted a ban on aid agencies . The WFP will ratchet up its efforts and begin airlifting food within days to try and reach 2.2 million people in the south , Sheeran said . In Mogadishu , the vast feeding camps are teeming with people , mostly women and children . Huma Isaac is over 80 years old -- she did not know her exact age -- and traveled 400 kilometers to reach a Mogadishu feeding camp . She felt lucky that she had been able to hitch a ride part of the way . Many people made the entire journey on foot . Isaac 's husband died from starvation , she said . That 's why she felt compelled to return to the city she had once fled in an effort to keep her children alive . Desperate women stormed a CNN reporter 's car in the city . `` Please help us , '' one pleaded . `` I am sick . '' A weak U.N.-backed transitional government controls parts of Mogadishu . Elsewhere , Al-Shabaab is king . The two sides have been locked in a bitter , brutal battle for control in this impoverished Horn of Africa nation , one of the factors that led the United Nations to declare famine . International aid agencies have been asking for help for months as the worst drought in half a century caused crops to fail and killed livestock . The international anti-poverty confederation Oxfam blamed donor nations for turning away from Somalia 's plight . Stories from East Africa 's famine . Another country might have been able to cope better , but a perfect storm brewed in Somalia , said Patrick Webb , a food security expert with the Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy at Tufts University . `` It 's not one thing or another that has gone wrong , '' Webb said . `` This represents catastrophic failure of all the systems that people rely on to survive . '' But getting food to the people is an enormous challenge in the country widely recognized as a failed state by all social and economic indicators . `` We are faced with hundreds of thousands of people on the verge of starvation but there is no central authority we can negotiate with to get access to those people , '' said Joel Charny , vice president for humanitarian policy and practice at InterAction , an alliance of U.S. aid agencies . At one time , global agencies were able to operate in Mogadishu , but an escalation of violence in recent years prompted most of them to flee . And besides the obvious security risks , trust became a problem , Charny said . In other nations , he said , aid agencies were able to negotiate their ability to work in an area , to get permission to have direct access to the people in need . He stopped just short of calling Somalia anarchic but said that aid workers could get few assurances that any deal would stick . And , many aid organizations have to fight local perceptions that they are there to enforce the United States ' counterterror agenda . `` It 's difficult to establish the trust you need to work , '' Charny said . Al-Shabaab has been far less hostile to Islamic charities . The Saudi-based Organization of Islamic Cooperation hopes to bring in more aid groups under its umbrella , and an OIC delegation visited Mogadishu Wednesday to discuss delivery of more food and bridging the aid gap . Even though Mogadishu is one of the hardest places to get aid , people are flocking to the city in the midst of the worst food crisis in decades . `` The situation is very severe , the conditions are very harsh , '' said Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed , the Somali president . `` We are requesting that the international community assist the Somalis , those within Somalia and the borders . We urgently request quick help . '' At one feeding camp , Amina , only 6 months old , was next to 2-year-old Bakr , who is too weak to stand , waiting for something to stop the ache in their bellies . The line behind them was growing steadily longer .
The United Nations has declared a famine in southern Somalia . Tens of thousands of people have arrived in Mogadishu . They are hoping to get food , water and medicine at feeding camps . International aid agencies fled Mogadishu because a lack of security .