Famine crisis will worsen in Horn of Africa for months, says UN

The whole of drought- and conflict-hit southern Somalia is heading into famine as the Horn of Africa food crisis deepens, the United Nations has said.

The UN's Office for the Co-ordination of Humanitarian Affairs said the "crisis in southern Somalia was expected to worsen through 2011, with all areas of the south slipping into famine".

Appealing for a further $1.4 billion (8.5bn) "to provide life-saving assistance to more than 12 million people" across the four countries of the Horn, it said the emergency would escalate for up to four months. The UN declared a famine in two regions of southern Somalia - where 3.7 million people are going hungry - earlier this month. Food shortages were expected to reach crisis levels in August and September. It said: "The areas of highest concern for the coming six months have been identified as southern and central Somalia, the north, south and east of Ethiopia, north-eastern and south-eastern Kenya, and the refugee camps in Djibouti, Kenya and Ethiopia."