Thousands of Ugandan students are unsure whether they have won university places after rats chewed through computer cables at the National Examination Board causing the system to crash. The New Vision newspaper said senior board officials were very concerned that rodents were able to infiltrate areas holding such vital information.

The hitch affected students who applied to teacher training colleges, polytechnics and medical institutions. It is not the first time that rats have eaten away at important installations in Uganda. Earlier this year they chewed through telecommunications wires, cutting off phone links to parts of western Uganda and Rwanda. Last week, a workshop on law reform heard that reams of vital computerised court evidence had been lost in the same way.