Many people are dying of hunger while fleeing serious drought in Somalia, the UN refugee agency said Friday, warning that aid efforts could be overwhelmed by large numbers of malnourished refugees.

"Many people are dying en route from what we hear," said Melissa Fleming, spokeswoman for the UN High Commissioner for Refugees in Geneva.

She could not give details on the death toll, but said the people were dying of malnutrition and that there were harrowing accounts from mothers who had lost children on the way and others who were forced to leave sick family members behind.

Fleming added that UN refugee chief Antonio Guterres, who is in Ethiopia to examine the aid response, reported that "his biggest concern was that those who arrived, and who are the most needy... probably about to die, be rushed to be helped immediately."

"There shouldn't be any waiting, if they were lucky enough to make it across the border. If they do make it, they should survive once they are in the hands of the international community," stressed the spokeswoman.

About 1,700 Somalis are arriving daily at the Dollo Ado area in southeast Ethiopia, while in neighbouring Kenya about 1,400 each day reach the overcrowded Dadaab refugee camp, said the UNHCR.

"Today we are warning that humanitarian efforts to help newly arriving Somali refugees in southeast Ethiopia are at risk of being overwhelmed without a more rapid and robust international response to the drought and displacement crisis in the Horn of Africa," said Fleming.

In Dollo Ado, systems to meet the food and health needs are "close to buckling," said the spokeswoman.

Dadaab, which was built for 90,000 refugees, is now hosting more than four times as many.

"The new arrivals are pitching tents on the outskirts of the camps," said Fleming, adding that UNHCR estimates as many as 65,000 refugees in these makeshift sites.

The UN had earlier warned that 10 million people in the Horn of Africa have been hit by the worst drought in 60 years, with some areas on the verge of famine.

A poor rainy season coupled with rising food prices have led to severe food shortages in countries including Djibouti, Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia and Uganda.

The World Food Programme said it now expected 10 million people in the region to need food aid, revising upwards its six million figure given on Tuesday.

"This is extremely worrying. This is across the whole Horn. This is also affecting ... Kenyans, Ethiopians, Somalis," said Emilia Casella, spokeswoman for the UN food agency.

The UN children's agency estimates that over two million children are malnourished in the region, and about 500,000 of them are "in life threatening conditions at this stage."

"That's a 50 percent increase over 2009 figures," said Marixie Mercado, UNICEF spokeswoman.

According to the UNHCR, nutritionists are reporting that malnutrition mortality rates for children under five is now three or four more than the average among those who have arrived in the camps.

"Our nutritionists are telling us that the situation is unprecedented, or not seen in decades," said Andrej Mahecic, UNHCR spokesman.

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