More than 200 people have died of starvation this month in northeastern Uganda, where more than half a million people face starvation due to drought and insecurity, an official and director of a charitable organization said.
In contrast to the rest of Uganda, development has lagged far behind the semi-arid and remote Karamoja region on the border with Kenya.
The ill-starred region is inhabited by nomadic pastoralists, where this year an upsurge targeting livestock launched by armed groups has exacerbated the situation.
"People are like old people, nursing mothers and children are dying silently inside their cottages only because of starvation," Gino Borend Meri, head of the local administration in Kabung, Karamoja district, told Reuters.
In one county, he added, the region has recorded at least 184 deaths from starvation this month alone.
The United Nations World Food Program said last month that at least 518,000, or 40% of the region's population, face high levels of food insecurity.
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