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, released 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 at a forum in Entebbe, Uganda last week.