Large parts of Africa face chronic food shortages

In Niger itself the eventual response of Western governments to the shocking media coverage has seen airlifts of emergency food aid and free distribution of food. But the same powers are ignoring warnings that many other countries, and Niger itself in the longer term, are facing a food crisis.

In Niger the WFP say that all the 2.65 million people affected will begin to receive food from its organisation, the Niger government and NGOs over the next few weeks. But the WFP is concerned that far more financial support will be needed next month to get through to the harvest in October. Its appeal for $US57.6 million has a current shortfall of $US32.8 million.

Oxfam reported that nomads in Niger such as the Tuareg and Fulani, who make up about 20 percent of Niger’s 12.9 million population, are facing particular difficulties. Up to 70 percent of their livestock has died as the result of the early end of last year’s rainy season, a plague of locusts, and above all extreme poverty. Oxfam’s regional director explained, “To these people, losing your animals is like losing your life savings. Without their animals they have no means of survival.”

Dr Milton Tectonidis of the medical relief charity, Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), has just returned from Niger and was interviewed on the MSF website. When asked about his mission to Niger, he said, “Those who say that this is just a situation like past years are just wrong. There is a real food shortage in many households and a lot of catastrophic cases arriving at our centres.”

While Niger is the worst affected country in the Sahel region, other countries continue to face a crisis. In neighbouring Mali, WFP representatives are warning of the danger of famine by the end of the month. A WFP food appeal so far has a 63 percent shortfall. The nomads who live in the north of the country are most affected. According to the BBC, warehouses in Timbuktu have only 447 tonnes of millet but need 1,000 tonnes to meet current needs.

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http://wsws.org/articles/2005/aug2005/afri-a19.shtml