UNITED NATIONS, Dec. 3 (Xinhua) -- Next year will be a "make or break" period for Somalia as its people suffer continued destitution without more effective aid, a UN official warned Wednesday.

    "The crisis in Somalia is a prolonged crisis, a crisis that has gone on for 17 years," Mark Bowden, the UN humanitarian coordinator for Somalia, told reporters.

    Bowden said the situation in Somalia was at a difficult stage, with the Somali people reeling from three years of drought.

    Somalia, which has not had a functioning national government since 1991, has been plagued by fighting and humanitarian suffering for decades.

    Continuing instability, coupled with drought, high food prices and the collapse of the local currency have worsened the humanitarian situation in the African country in recent months.

    The United Nations on Tuesday launched an appeal for some 918 million U.S. dollars to finance aid projects in Somalia.

    The UN Security Council also called on all countries and regional organizations with the necessary capacity to deploy naval ships and military aircraft off the Somali coast to fight rampant piracy that has impeded UN aid efforts.

    The UN estimates that about 3.2 million people, or 40 percent of Somalia's total population, are in need of assistance.