The African Union (AU) will hold a donor conference on August 9, with the help of the UN, to raise money for the millions affected by drought in the Horn of Africa.

The UN said on Monday thay they urgently need another $1.4bn to save lives. Tens of thousands of Somalis have already died from starvation.

However, Al Jazeera's Peter Greste, reporting from Nairobi, says the AU action, while still much needed, is late and is not expected to have a huge impact.

Greste says that rain which has begun to fall along a small coastal strip of Somalia may be an indicator that the region's weather patterns are returning to normal.

The rains are however not expected to have an immediate effect on food security, he says.