Millions at risk from African famine worsened by Boko Haram - U.N.

Children attend a class at a primary school in Muna Garage IDP camp, Maiduguri, Nigeria November 7, 2016. UNICEF/Naftalin/Handout via REUTERS

OSLO (Reuters) - Aid agencies must get food to close to 3 million people by July to avert a famine in Africa's Lake Chad region caused by drought, chronic poverty and Islamist insurgents Boko Haram, the United Nations said on Friday as it launched a funding appeal.

International donors at a conference in Oslo pledged $672 million (£535.1 million) for the next three years, $457 million of which was for 2017, Norway's foreign minister said. It was not clear whether that was all new money or had already been earmarked previously.