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Niger Faces Major Food Emergency
The African country of Niger is rarely mentioned in this country. The only time we've heard it mentioned in the last few years is in relation to the Wilson/Plame/Karl Rove scandal. But today in Niger, 3.3 million people, including almost a million children, are facing starvation after a drought and locusts wiped out last year's harvest. We go to Doctors Without Borders for a report from the ground.
The African country of Niger is rarely mentioned in this country. The only time we've heard it mentioned in the last few years is in relation to the Wilson/Plame/Karl Rove scandal - that the CIA sent ambassador Wilson to Niger to investigate claims that Saddam Hussein sought to buy uranium from the country. The claim was not true even though President Bush said it was during his 2003 State of the Union address.
But the African country is facing an immense crisis of its own. In Niger, 3.3 million people, including almost a million children, are facing starvation after a drought and locusts wiped out last year's harvest. It is listed as the second least developed country in the world by the United Nations development program. More than 25% of Niger's children die before their fifth birthday. Jan Egeland, United Nations undersecretary general for humanitarian affairs and emergency relief coordinator, said the emergency could have been prevented.
* Jan Egeland, UN Undersecretary General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator:
"We have a full blown emergency in Niger, children are dying from hunger, it was all predictable, the government and we appealed in November last year, again in March, and we had a huge flash appeal as we call it in mid-May. I met with all of the donors here in New York on the 13th of May, and only now these days in mid -July when the images come on television of dying, starving children, do we receive the funding we need."
In the last few days, the United Nations has more than doubled the number of people it plans to feed in Niger. The U.N World Food Program announced that it will now aim to provide emergency rations to 2.5 million people. Last week, the agency's stated goal was 1.2 million. Relief workers on the ground say the UN and other agencies should have started the large-scale emergency food aid much earlier. _Development agencies have criticized the world media for not bringing the crisis to the attention of the public despite numerous efforts from these agencies to get the story in newspapers and on television. The Chief Executive of the Disaster Emergency Committee, Brendan Gormley told Scotland's Sunday Herald, “the whole push of G8 and Live8 was to get away from chronic images of African starvation and Niger didn't fit. It risked falling in the "old" Africa. The public and politicians weren”t looking because of the emphasis on reaching a long term resolve for Africa. Sadly, People are hungry now.”
* Johanne Sekkennes, head of mission for Doctors Without Borders in Niger.
LISTEN ONLINE
http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=05/08/01/1359213
But the African country is facing an immense crisis of its own. In Niger, 3.3 million people, including almost a million children, are facing starvation after a drought and locusts wiped out last year's harvest. It is listed as the second least developed country in the world by the United Nations development program. More than 25% of Niger's children die before their fifth birthday. Jan Egeland, United Nations undersecretary general for humanitarian affairs and emergency relief coordinator, said the emergency could have been prevented.
* Jan Egeland, UN Undersecretary General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator:
"We have a full blown emergency in Niger, children are dying from hunger, it was all predictable, the government and we appealed in November last year, again in March, and we had a huge flash appeal as we call it in mid-May. I met with all of the donors here in New York on the 13th of May, and only now these days in mid -July when the images come on television of dying, starving children, do we receive the funding we need."
In the last few days, the United Nations has more than doubled the number of people it plans to feed in Niger. The U.N World Food Program announced that it will now aim to provide emergency rations to 2.5 million people. Last week, the agency's stated goal was 1.2 million. Relief workers on the ground say the UN and other agencies should have started the large-scale emergency food aid much earlier. _Development agencies have criticized the world media for not bringing the crisis to the attention of the public despite numerous efforts from these agencies to get the story in newspapers and on television. The Chief Executive of the Disaster Emergency Committee, Brendan Gormley told Scotland's Sunday Herald, “the whole push of G8 and Live8 was to get away from chronic images of African starvation and Niger didn't fit. It risked falling in the "old" Africa. The public and politicians weren”t looking because of the emphasis on reaching a long term resolve for Africa. Sadly, People are hungry now.”
* Johanne Sekkennes, head of mission for Doctors Without Borders in Niger.
LISTEN ONLINE
http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=05/08/01/1359213
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Only weeks after the leaders of the G8 countries met in Scotland pledging to make poverty a thing of the past, the news media began to reveal that a catastrophic famine was unfolding in Niger.
For weeks, Prime Minister Tony Blair and Chancellor Gordon Brown had been posturing as the saviours of the impoverished African masses by virtue of their proposals for debt relief. Their humanitarian pretensions had been backed by the organisers of the Live 8 events during the G8 summit, as part of the “Make Poverty History” campaign.
But according to BBC News, the unfolding Niger famine was not even mentioned at the summit. Only after horrific pictures of starving children featured on television, causing a public outcry, did any response at government level begin.
Emergency food supplies are now being flown into Niger, with other supplies coming in overland. According to the development charity Oxfam, more than 3 million people are facing starvation in Niger out of a population of 11 million. Of these, 800,000 are children.
The charity Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), which has operated in Niger for the last 15 years, has described the famine as “the biggest nutritional operation in MSF history.”
The threat of disease is now adding to the danger faced by the most vulnerable. Speaking to the Reuters news agency, Johanne Sekkenes, mission head for MSF in Niger, explained: “These children are very, very vulnerable. If they’re already malnourished and they get malaria they need expert medical and nutritional help straight away.”
This famine has not happened overnight. The Famine Early Warning Systems Network (FEWS Net) issued an urgent-action-required notice in its December 8, 2004, briefing. In this, it noted that in “agro-pastoral areas hit by locusts, dryness and early end of season, household food deficits are emerging.”
Read More
http://wsws.org/articles/2005/aug2005/nige-a03.shtml
For weeks, Prime Minister Tony Blair and Chancellor Gordon Brown had been posturing as the saviours of the impoverished African masses by virtue of their proposals for debt relief. Their humanitarian pretensions had been backed by the organisers of the Live 8 events during the G8 summit, as part of the “Make Poverty History” campaign.
But according to BBC News, the unfolding Niger famine was not even mentioned at the summit. Only after horrific pictures of starving children featured on television, causing a public outcry, did any response at government level begin.
Emergency food supplies are now being flown into Niger, with other supplies coming in overland. According to the development charity Oxfam, more than 3 million people are facing starvation in Niger out of a population of 11 million. Of these, 800,000 are children.
The charity Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), which has operated in Niger for the last 15 years, has described the famine as “the biggest nutritional operation in MSF history.”
The threat of disease is now adding to the danger faced by the most vulnerable. Speaking to the Reuters news agency, Johanne Sekkenes, mission head for MSF in Niger, explained: “These children are very, very vulnerable. If they’re already malnourished and they get malaria they need expert medical and nutritional help straight away.”
This famine has not happened overnight. The Famine Early Warning Systems Network (FEWS Net) issued an urgent-action-required notice in its December 8, 2004, briefing. In this, it noted that in “agro-pastoral areas hit by locusts, dryness and early end of season, household food deficits are emerging.”
Read More
http://wsws.org/articles/2005/aug2005/nige-a03.shtml
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