Uganda

Global price rises and floods last year have caused severe food shortages in northeast Uganda, where nearly 30 people have died and some have been reduced to eating rats, officials said on May 20. The deaths occurred in the remote Karamoja region, an impoverished semi-arid area bordering Kenya and Sudan that is notorious for fighting over livestock and scant resources. Government officials acknowledged hunger had claimed lives and led to a desperate situation, but did not give figures. (Reuters)