The United Nations warned today that 13 million people in Kenya, Somalia and Ethiopia are at risk of severe famine due to what it said is the worst drought in decades in the Horn of Africa.

The World Food Program said three years had passed without an actual rainy season, and the region was recording the driest conditions since 1981.

He added that the drought destroyed crops and caused an "abnormally high" animal mortality rate, forcing families living in the countryside who live from animal husbandry and agriculture to abandon their homes.

The World Food Program's regional director for East Africa, Michael Dunford, said that water and pastures are scarce, and rainfall forecasts are below average for the next month, which may exacerbate the crisis.

"Crops are spoiling, livestock are dying, hunger is increasing, and recurrent droughts are afflicting the Horn of Africa," he added in a statement.

He stressed that "the situation requires immediate humanitarian action" to avoid a recurrence of a crisis such as the one in Somalia in 2011, where 250,000 people died of starvation during a long drought.

Malnutrition

Food aid is distributed in arid regions of Kenya, Ethiopia and Somalia, where malnutrition rates are high and some 13 million people are at risk of starvation in the first quarter of this year.

About 5.7 million people are in need of humanitarian assistance in southern and southeastern Ethiopia, including half a million children and mothers who suffer from malnutrition.

In Somalia, the number of people classified as severely hungry is expected to rise from 3.5 million to 4.6 million by next May, unless urgent intervention is required.

In southeast and northern Kenya, where a drought emergency was declared in September, an additional 2.8 million people need assistance.

According to the World Food Program, $327 million is needed to meet immediate needs over the next six months and help the population become more resilient to recurrent food shocks.

In 2011, a lack of rain led to the driest year since 1951 in the arid regions of Kenya, Somalia, Ethiopia, Djibouti and Uganda.