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