The humanitarian situation in south-eastern Ethiopia continues to deteriorate, with increasing livestock deaths, serious shortage of water and high levels of malnutrition, the United Nations reported Monday.

While several projects are addressing the drought situation, more interventions are needed especially in the non-food sector, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said.

The World Food Program (WFP) is increasing its monitoring capacity in the areas, through hiring of new food aid monitors and field assistants, the agency said.

Earlier this month, the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) appealed for 18.5 million U.S. dollars to help farmers, herders and others suffering through a drought that has created severe food shortages with pre-famine conditions and widespread migrations of people and animals in the country's mainly Somali region.

Source: Xinhua