The Tanzanian government has sent one of its ministers of state to investigate a local media report on two children who had reportedly died of hunger.

Prime Minister Edward Lowassa has sent Mizengo Pinda in charge of regional administration and local governments to Monduli in the Arusha region in northern Tanzania on a fact-finding mission, according to a press statement issued by the prime minister's office in Dodoma available Dar Es Salaam on Tuesday.

A local Swahili weekly reported on Sunday that two children had died of hunger last week at the village of Engikaret in Monduli.

The gazette claimed the two children to be the first victims of the ongoing drought in the east African country.

Anthony Malley, district commissioner of Monduli, said that he was not aware of the deaths but he confirmed that the food situation in the area was very serious.

The Tanzanian government sent earlier this month 21,499 tons of relief food to 10 of the country's 26 administrative regions where 613,005 people had been estimated to be faced with hunger caused by prolonged drought.

These regions were Arusha, Dodoma, Kilimanjaro, Mara, Morogoro, Mwanza Shinyanga, Singida, Tabora and Tanga.

The Tanzanian government has also waived import duties to enable imports of large quantities of cereals and has set aside special funds for transportation and distribution of imported cereals.

Source: Xinhua