Mr. Kunder, the most senior United States official to visit Mogadishu since the outbreak of civil war there 18 months ago, said, "People are dying in the thousands daily because aid workers cannot move relief food."

The French Minister for Health and Humanitarian Action, Bernard Kouchner, visited Mogadishu on Aug. 4-5.

On 28 November, the president of Uganda Yoweri Museveni visited Mogadishu and urged the international community to provide more support for the government of Somalia.

The State Department's top diplomat for Africa plans to visit Mogadishu, the violence-scarred Somali capital, on Sunday, American officials said Friday.

Gen. Mohammed Farrah Aidid, the leader of one of the main factions, apologized to the Secretary General for the demonstration his supporters organized against him when he visited Mogadishu on Sunday.

Andrew Mitchell, the international development secretary, who visited Mogadishu on Wednesday, warned that up to 400,000 children could die through starvation if urgent action is not taken to help Somalia and its neighbours.

As Mitchell visited Mogadishu, Britain announced an extra £25m ($41m) in emergency aid for Somalia.

In another aborted diplomatic effort, an envoy of the Organization of African Unity, which has its headquarters here in the Ethiopian capital, tried to visit Mogadishu last month but failed to win agreement from both sides.

On Sunday, Jendayi E. Frazer, the United States assistant secretary of state for Africa, is scheduled to visit Mogadishu for four hours to meet with Somali leaders and intellectuals.

Once, no senior official, let alone a world leader or wealthy businessman, would have risked visiting Mogadishu.