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Uganda 'may be next' to face severe drought: FAO

By AFP
Uganda A boy sifts through remains of a stall at the Owino market in Kampala, Uganda, on Sunday following a fire.  By Max Delany AFP
AUG 2, 2011 LISTEN
A boy sifts through remains of a stall at the Owino market in Kampala, Uganda, on Sunday following a fire. By Max Delany (AFP)

GENEVA (AFP) - Uganda may become the next country to fall victim to severe food shortages due to drought already seen in other Horn of Africa states, the UN food agency warned Tuesday.

"We have started to monitor the situation in Uganda where we are also seeing pockets of food insecurity affected by the same drought conditions," said a spokeswoman for the Food and Agriculture Organisation.

"Uganda may be the next country hit with these same sort of alarming malnutrition and drought conditions," she added.

In July, the UN declared a famine in two regions in Somalia and has estimated that millions of people in Ethiopia, Kenya and Djibouti needed urgent aid as livestock and crops were wiped out by severe drought.

© 2011 AFP

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