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"If we don't act now, famine will spread to all eight regions of southern Somalia within two months, due to poor harvests and infectious disease outbreaks," said the UN humanitarian co-ordinator for Somalia, Mark Bowden. The UN has declared a famine in two areas of southern Somalia as the region experiences the worst drought in more than half a century. The US considers al-Shabab a terrorist group and last year stopped aid to the large area of Somalia it controls. "The overall requirement is $1.6bn (�990m) for Somalia, roughly $300m is needed in the next two months to provide an adequate response to famine-affected areas. Children and adults are dying at an appalling rate," Mr Ban said.