Sophia Loren Sees Somalia's Nightmare November 23, 1992 (Kuwii Xasuqaan geystey ayaa Marlamaad Qorsheynaayo Umada xasuuqaan)

BAIDOA, SOMALIA — Actress Sophia Loren toured Somalia's city of death Sunday. She said it was the worst experience of her life. The Italian actress saw the hungry and the dying in southwestern Baidoa, 150 miles northwest of the capital Mogadishu and the center of one of the worst famines this century, claiming 50 lives a day. ''I have seen pictures of starving people on television, but I never realized the situation was so incomprehensible,'' Loren told reporters. Loren, 58, is on a six-day tour of Somalia and Kenya. She has been appointed a U.N. goodwill envoy to draw world attention to the plight of refugees from war and famine in the Horn of Africa. The Red Cross said it was forced to cut the number of meals it serves each day from two to one and reduce the calories of each meal from 1,200 to 600. Plenty of food is arriving in the country, but looting, corruption and banditry prevent it from reaching those in need.