'Our children next'

PARCHED: KENYA VOICES WORST FEAR AS DROUGHT WIPES OUT LIVESTOCK

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In drought-hit northeastern Kenya, villagers have been forced to drag their dead livestock to distant fields for burning to keep the stench of death and scavenging hyenas away from their homes.

Mandera county along Kenya's borders with Ethiopia and Somalia has seen no rain since May and is now on the point of a full-blown water emergency.

"I have lost all my cows and goats and burned them here," Bishar Maalim Mohammed, 60, a resident of Tawakal village, said.

In his village, where most are pastoralists relying heavily on their animals, the only remaining bull can no longer stand.

He has lain in the same spot for nearly a week, severely dehydrated with bones protruding through his skin, as his owner watches helplessly.