Some 2.6 million Somalis now require help to feed themselves, an increase of 40 percent since January, according to figures compiled by the Food Security Analysis Unit, part of the UN's Food and Agriculture Organisation.

"This increase is mainly due to the addition of 600,000 urban poor, who now face conditions of acute food and livelihood crisis and humanitarian emergency," said a statement from the monitoring team.

The dire situation has been exacerbated by relentless conflict, a sharp devaluation of the Somali shilling and hyper-inflation, as well as the delayed start to the April-June rainy season.