The U.N. weather agency is forecasting a return to normal or above normal rainfall conditions in famine-hit southern Somalia.

The World Meteorological Organization said its prediction, issued Wednesday, is for the September-to-December period, an important rainfall season for southern Somalia and other equatorial regions in the Horn of Africa.

The Horn is struggling with a severe drought that has left more than 12 million people in need of food aid.

The WMO's forecast predicts an “increased likelihood” of above normal rainfall in southern Somalia, eastern, central and coastal Kenya, and in northeastern Tanzania.

It foresees normal to below normal rainfall in northern Somalia, northwestern Kenya, and eastern and southern Ethiopia.

The forecast notes that in some parts of the Horn, September-to-December is not an important rainfall season, and that in those areas there may not be much easing of the drought.

The WMO says its conclusions were reached at a forum of East African and international meteorologists in Entebbe, Uganda last week.

The United Nations declared a famine in a sixth region of southern Somalia Monday. The Famine Early Warning Systems Network says poor rains over the past year resulted in the worst annual crop production in nearly two decades.

Hundreds of thousands of Somalis have fled their homes in search of food and water, either to displaced persons camps around the capital, Mogadishu, or to refugee camps in Kenya and Ethiopia.

Experts have warned that despite international relief efforts, famine is likely to spread to other parts of Somalia over the next few months.