ADDIS ABABA (AFP) — The United Nations’ humanitarian chief John Holmes arrived in Ethiopia Monday to tour regions affected by drought, which has left some eight million people in need of urgent food aid.

Holmes will visit the country’s drought-hit Southern Nationalities and People’s Region in the south and the Somali region in the southeast, said Greg Beals, the UN’s humanitarian office (OCHA) spokesman in Ethiopia.

He will also hold talks with Ethiopian officials during the three-day trip, Beals told AFP.

According to OCHA, 4.6 million Ethiopians need emergency assistance and eight million need immediate food relief.

In June, the UN had appealed for 325.2 million dollars mainly in food aid for drought victims. Only 52 percent of this appeal has been met.

Other badly hit areas include the southern region of Oromiya, where 6,700 more children were diagnosed as suffering from severe malnutrition between 23 July and August 12.

Ethiopia was hit with severe floods last year which destroyed most of the food crops, while this year a drought has worsened the situation, leading to food prices that soared 330 percent.