MOGADISHU, Somalia

The Somali Ministry of Humanitarian and Disaster Management said Tuesday it sent the first shipments of aid to the drought-stricken regions of Hiiraan and Bakool.

Minister of Humanitarian Affairs Khadijo Mohamed Diirye told journalists in Mogadishu that a Drought Relief Committee recently appointed by Prime Minister Mohamed Hussein Roble dispatched a cargo plane to Beledweyne, the provincial capital of the Hiiran region and to Hudur in the Bakol region -- one of the hardest-hit areas in the country.

She said aid will continue as the committee is planning to send another plane to Garbaharey, the Gedo region's capital.

The UN said Monday it allocated $17M to the worsening drought in Somalia.

Insecurity and conflict resulted in the displacement of 777,000 people in Somalia last year, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Agency said in a statement late Monday.

"Overall, more than 2.9M people are displaced within the country – one of the highest figures in the world," it said.

Most of the internally displaced live in precarious conditions and need assistance to survive.

The UN said Somalia's Shabelle River had reached historically low levels because of drought, forcing the agency to issue an alert.

The UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) said water levels in the river have reached historically low levels around the central city of Beletweyne, the provincial capital of the Hiiran region.

"Around 2 million people live in the riverine districts depending on Shabelle River for food production & livelihoods," FAO said in a statement on Twitter.

The drought has continued to worsen following a prolonged dry spell characterized by high temperatures.