UN: high prices across famine-stricken East Africa

ROME (AP) — A U.N. food agency says that cereal prices in famine-stricken East Africa reached new peaks in several countries last month, adding to an already dramatic situation for millions of hungry people.



The Food and Agriculture Organization said Wednesday that prices of milk also were at record or very high levels in most countries of the region.



The United Nations estimates that tens of thousands of people have died from malnutrition in Somalia in recent months. Over 11 million people across East Africa need food aid because of a long-running drought.



The high prices are the result of a combination of factors, including poor harvests because of the drought and sharp increases in fuel and transport costs, according to the Rome-based agency.