Exhausted, sick and starving Somalis fleeing extreme drought tarry in this desolate village before making the final long trek across the border to become refugees in neighbouring Kenya.

Although Dhobley is just five kilometres (three miles) from the Kenyan border, the sprawling Dadaab refugee complex -- the largest in the world with more than 400,000 people -- is still a tough 100-kilometre walk ahead.

Hundreds fleeing drought and famine-hit areas elsewhere in southern Somalia stream daily into the small town of simple tin shacks and huts.

The situation in Dhobley is dire, even for the animals on which people depend: there is also little for them in this dusty settlement.

"We require support so the remaining cattle can get water," Sheikh Abdi Rahim, a local leader. "So many animals are dying around the town."

While international relief efforts to support the millions affected by drought are picking up, experts said help must be also given to the livestock to ensure long-term recovery once this crisis has passed.

"Donors dont like it, but we are going to have to feed animals," said Luca Alinovi, the UN's Food and Agriculture Organisation country director for Somalia.

"My priority is that people have access to food," he said. "We have to invest whatever is possible now to protect the livelihoods."

"Not feeding animals is the biggest mistake we can do," Alinovi added, warning that restocking costs many times more than preventing losses.

Conflict-wracked Somalia is the country hardest hit by the extreme drought affecting 12 million people across the Horn of Africa.

The United Nations has officially declared famine in Somalia for the first time this century, including in Mogadishu and four southern regions.

"Dhobley is the exit point to Kenya, so a lot of people are coming here," said Abdinassir Serar, a local elder.

"But the local inhabitants also face the problems of the drought," he said.

Habiba Mahad Aden, among those who fled from southern Somalia, lamented the hardship.

"We left because of the drought," she said, cradling her weakly one-year-old son Idman Mohamed and sitting in a basic camp set up on the outskirts of the town.

"We dont have money to go to the pharmacy," she said.

The majority of areas hit by famine are controlled by Islamist Shebab rebels who imposed a ban on key foreign aid agencies two years ago, exacerbating the crippling impact of the drought.

A local militia drove out the Al-Qaeda-affiliated Shebab rebels from Dhobley in April, pushing them out up to 90 kilometres north and 30 kilometres to the south and east.

The UN's food monitoring unit has described Somalia as facing the most severe humanitarian crisis in the world and Africa's worst food security crisis since the country's 1991-1992 famine.

Aid workers hope that boosting support for people inside Somalia will encourage a slow down in the stream of people leaving for already overcrowded refugee camps.

However getting aid into the dangerous region remains a challenge. Heavily armed soldiers carrying AK-47 automatic rifles patrol the town on top of pickup trucks.

Around 1,500 Somali's arrive each day at Dadaab's camps -- more than 76,000 arriving in the past two months, according to the UN refugee agency.

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