The drought has led to crop failures and food shortages in parts of Ethiopia, Kenya, Djibouti and Somalia, and now a refugee crisis looms as people leave their homes to escape hunger.

The UN says thousands of Somalis are leaving their country, ending up in parched and overcrowded refugee camps.

Dadaab in Kenya is the world's largest refugee camp. Intended for 90,000 people, the UN says there are now more than 380,000 there.

Rainfall in the Horn of Africa has declined steadily over the past 10 years, according to the UN World Food Program (WFP), but recent years have been especially dry.