Rafael Pineda, the minister of the presidency, said the government would tap 10 new water wells to meet shortages experienced by the city's 1.5 million residents.

Pineda said the drought has been caused by "El Nino," a band of unusually warm weather over the eastern Pacific, which in the past has been linked to numerous floods, droughts and bush fires from South America to Australia.

All rights reserved. � 2005 Agence France-Presse. Sections of the information displayed on this page (dispatches, photographs, logos) are protected by intellectual property rights owned by Agence France-Presse. As a consequence, you may not copy, reproduce, modify, transmit, publish, display or in any way commercially exploit any of the content of this section without the prior written consent of Agence France-Presse.