The United Nations Children's Fund ( UNICEF) said on Friday that it needed 13.5 million U.S. dollars to address the immediate needs of displaced children in Somalia.

There are urgent funding gaps for the response to 365,000 people displaced by the conflict in Mogadishu, Somalia's capital, UNICEF spokeswoman Veronique Taveau told a news briefing in Geneva.

Insecurity is also preventing access to vulnerable children in many parts of central and southern Somalia, Taveau added.

She said new funds were urgently needed in the areas of nutrition, health, education and protection.

Fighting between insurgents and Somalia's transitional government and their Ethiopian allies recently renewed in Mogadishu.

Most of the displaced by the war are women, children under 14 and the elderly, UNICEF said.

Source: Xinhua