UNITED NATIONS, July 21 (Xinhua) -- Mark Bowden, UN humanitarian coordinator for Somalia, said here Wednesday that more funding will be needed to alleviate what he called "one of the world's most difficult and acute humanitarian crises" in the embattled African country.

Funding to Somalia has been reduced this year, exasperating funding gaps in health and nutrition. More funding is also needed to help Somalia's internally displaced persons (IDPs) get clean water and sanitation.

Classified by the UN as one of the world's least developed countries, Somalia has been engulfed in civil war since 1991. More recently, Islamic insurgent groups like al-Shabab have waged violent attacks in the Somali capital city of Mogadishu and beyond.

"Despite its unenviable reputation, it is important that we continue adequate funding to sustain what I think is a remarkable humanitarian achievement in Somalia," Bowden said at a press conference here.

Bowden stated that he fears that the lack of funding will set back the progress made by the UN and its partner organizations in Somalia. He pointed to the accomplishment of keeping Somalia polio- free in spite of a resurgence of polio on the continent in the last year.

"That's because we've reached 1.3 million people with clean water," he said. "Child health days and vaccination campaigns are continuing even in areas that are occupied by rebel and insurgent groups, and nearly 1.8 million people have received some form of food assistance in Somalia."

In spite of humanitarians' best efforts to provide the basics to Somalians, Bowden emphasized that conflicts have caused " considerable collateral damage on the civilian populations." He said that over 3,000 conflict-related deaths have occurred since March in Somalia, and that UN structures been shelled by combatants.

Discussion of the conflicts in Somalia will be high on the agenda as the high-level segment of the 15th African Union summit begins on Sunday in Kampala, Uganda.(Wang Guanqun)