CASTELGANDOLFO, Italy - Pope Benedict XVI urged the world not to forget to the victims of famine in the Horn of Africa during his weekly blessing to pilgrims on Sunday.

"It is forbidden to be indifferent in the face of the tragedy of the starving," the pope said from his summer residence south of Rome.

The pope invited the faithful "to think of the many brothers and sisters who in these days, in the Horn of Africa, are suffering the dramatic consequences of famine, aggravated by war and the absence of solid institutions."

Benedict has been following the crisis with concern. It was his second mention in recent weeks of the drought in Somalia and neighbouring countries.

Two weeks ago, he urged the international community to move quickly to aid hundreds of thousands of people fleeing drought and famine in Somalia and elsewhere in the Horn of Africa.

Aid agencies say the region's drought is one of the worst in years in terms of the number of people affected.

Thousands of Somali refugees are flooding camps in Ethiopia and Kenya in search of food after several seasons without rain decimated livestock and killed crops in their homeland.