New warnings of famine conditions and food shortages have been sounded for parts of the Horn of Africa.

The Famine Early Warning Systems Network says more than one million cattle herders in southeast Ethiopia face "extreme food insecurity" due to the lack of normal late-year rains.

The U.S.-funded group says pre-famine conditions have emerged in several districts, including Afder, Liban and Gode.

The group says two million people also need humanitarian aid in neighboring Somalia and an additional one million are facing shortages in Kenya.

It says such conditions are alarming at this time of year, several months before the onset of the dry season, when conditions normally deteriorate to their worst levels of the year.

It says food aid has been dispatched to the affected regions and urged relief workers to act quickly to distribute the aid.