Famine in Kenya.

Nairobi

(ENI)--Churches in Kenya are moving to provide aid for millions facing starvation due to a severe famine in this East African country, where the head of state has declared the food crisis a national disaster.

Church leaders are asking their congregations to drop food at church centres or designated places to be delivered as aid to starving populations. "We should be mindful of our brothers and sisters dying of hunger," Anglican Bishop Thomas Kogo of Eldoret told the East African Standard newspaper. His diocese and the African Inland 'Church have launched food collection centres. They are urging farmers in western Kenya who have been enjoying bumper harvests, despite the shortages in other parts of the country, to donate food for relief purposes.

President Mwai Kibaki has declared the food crisis a national disaster and launched appeals for local and international help. His government says more than 2.5 million Kenyans will need famine relief for the next six months.