European Union foreign ministers have appealed to the Somali government and rebels to agree a ceasefire and allow aid workers to help citizens caught in the crossfire.
The EU ministers said they were dismayed over the humanitarian situation in the country, where the government and its Ethiopian allies are again fighting against Islamic insurgents.
They said all warring parties had an obligation to comply with international humanitarian law and provide safe passage for food and medicines to reach the needy.
In a statement from Brussels, they urged Somali authorities "to do their utmost to remove any obstacle to the free movement of aid and humanitarian relief workers into and throughout the country".
At least 400,000 people have fled the capital, Mogadishu, during fighting over the past two months that has killed at least 1,670 people.
The EU said it would assist in implementing the ceasefire but would not send peacekeepers there. Instead, the EU has said it will try to help fund an African Union peacekeeping force of 1,400 Ugandans, who were deployed to Somalia last month.
The United Nations has said more than 320,000 of Mogadishu's two million residents have fled since February, sending streams of people into squalid camps.
AP