UNITED NATIONS, June 5 (Xinhua) -- The United Nations faces a huge shortfall in the 326 million U.S. dollars of urgent humanitarian funding it sought for the war-torn Eastern African nation of Somalia, the UN Office for Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said Monday.

    In a statement, the UN agency denounced the recent fighting in the Somali capital of Mogadishu, which is the worst in a decade, leaving 300 people dead, 1,500 injured and 17,000 displaced.

    "The recent indiscriminate shelling in Mogadishu and spreading fighting in the environs of the capital have resulted in enormous human suffering," UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs Jan Egeland was quoted as saying.

    Somalia has been torn by factional fighting since the collapse of President Muhammad Siad Barre's regime 15 years ago.

    "At a time when people most need medical care and surgical attention, the occupation of Keysaney hospital by armed fighters constitutes a gross violation of international humanitarian law," he added.

    Six months into 2006, the UN's 326-million appeal for Somalia has garnered only 135 million dollars, the agency said. While needs for food are 60 percent covered, all other needs identified in the appeal have less than 25 percent of the funds required.

    The situation of displaced people, mainly fleeing fighting in the south of the country, is an increasing humanitarian disaster, OCHA said.

    Due to the intensity of recent fighting, an increasing number of civilians have been unable to reach medical facilities. The recent upsurge in hostilities came at a time when southern Somaliais experiencing a humanitarian emergency due to drought, the statement added.

    Egeland urged the Somalian transitional government and all warring factions to do more to ensure safe humanitarian access and protection of civilians at all times, including those in Mogadishu.

    The transitional government, originally formed in Kenya in an effort to bring peace and stability to the tortured country, does not sit in Mogadishu but in the town of Baidoa.

    Currently Mogadishu is the only capital in the world where the UN does not have access for international humanitarian staff, due to insecurity and despite an estimated 250,000 internally displaced living in the city. Enditem