Potential new drought in east

About 100,000 vulnerable people in drought-affected eastern and southern prefectures require food aid, OCHA-Kigali, citing WFP estimates, said in its latest humanitarian update. It said a recent government-WFP crop and food supply assessment mission had found that drought had significantly affected the 1999B agricultural season, particularly in the prefectures of Kibungo, Umutara and Gikongoro. Meanwhile, should lack of rain persist in the coming weeks, some parts of Rwanda may experience serious food shortages by December or January, the report, received by IRIN on Wednesday, said. Although rains for the 2000A season started two weeks earlier than normal, the very limited rains over the past two weeks may lead to another wave of drought, mainly in the east, it said.