The United Nations has declared a famine in three new areas of Somalia.

A statement Wednesday said famine conditions are present in two districts of the Middle Shabelle region , the Afgoye corridor displaced person settlement, and the Mogadishu displaced persons community.

The statement was issued through the U.N. and U.S-funded Famine Early Warning Systems Network. It says rates of acute malnutrition and mortality have passed famine thresholds in all three areas.

The U.N. declared Somalia's Bakool and Lower Shabelle regions to be famine zones last month.

Meanwhile, the U.N. says the number of Somali refugees in the Horn of Africa has topped 860,000, many of them forced out by the drought and famine.

The U.N. refugee agency says another 1.5 million Somalis are internally displaced, mostly in south-central Somalia.

The agency says many Somalis fled their homes after the last of their livestock died, depriving them of both income and food.

The agency says that since January, 125,000 Somalis have fled to Kenya, and another 76,000 to Ethiopia. Earlier Somali refugees were largely forced out by fighting between government forces and insurgents.

Somalia is at the center of the worst drought to hit the Horn of Africa in 60 years. The United Nations says more than 12 million people in the region are in need of food aid.

The U.N. recently declared a famine in two parts of southern Somalia, and has warned that famine conditions are likely to spread to other areas in the next four to eight weeks.

On Tuesday, British relief agency Oxfam said governments and donors need to fulfill their pledges of aid more quickly.

The U.N. refugee agency says large numbers of Somali children are malnourished, and the under-five mortality rate at refugee camps in Kenya is on the rise.