Aid flight to set off for Niger
BBC news reports today that an aid flight organised by Save the Children UK with 41 tons of emergency feeding supplies on board is due to set off for drought-hit west African country Niger.
Note, the report quotes Phil Bloomer of Oxfam as saying the food crisis in Niger was predicted months ago and could easily have been prevented. And, the combination of locust damage and drought is also affecting Niger's neighbours Mauritania, Mali and Burkina Faso.
Aid these days is a multi billion dollar industry that provides a huge number of well paid jobs. What is going on here re Niger and why was the UN so slow to respond in Darfur last year? No doubt the majority of aid workers do a magnificent job but, since the whole business is funded from the public purse, where is the accountability and who is responsible for taking a year to act on getting emergency food to people who are starving?
Excerpt from the report:
The aid is fully funded by the UK's Department for International Development, out GBP 3m pledged to help Niger's estimated 3.6m people in need.
A World Food Programme plane is also preparing to leave Italy with food.
Oxfam is urging the United Nations to form a $1bn emergency fund so future famines can be tackled without delay.
The Save the Children flight from Ostend to the Niger capital Niamey will be carrying specialist food and equipment to support one month of feeding for severely malnourished children and those recovering from malnutrition.
The WFP plane from Rome will be carrying 80 tons of high-nutrition biscuits and logistical equipment.
Agencies including the Red Cross and Medecins Sans Frontieres have already started feeding some children, but many people have to be turned back from feeding centres because there is not enough aid for all.
On Saturday the United Nations' relief chief said aid had finally begun to arrive in Niger, but only after graphic pictures of starving children were broadcast last week.
Appeals in November, March and May had failed to generate enough aid.
Experts are warning the crisis could get worse before it gets better.
The combination of locust damage and drought is also affecting Mauritania, Mali and Burkina Faso.
Aid agency Oxfam said the famine could have been prevented if there had been an emergency fund, despite the slowness of the international community to respond to appeals.
Oxfam's proposal for an emergency fund is on the agenda for a special United Nations summit in September.
"Starvation does not have to be inevitable," said Oxfam campaigns director Phil Bloomer.
Note, the report quotes Phil Bloomer of Oxfam as saying the food crisis in Niger was predicted months ago and could easily have been prevented. And, the combination of locust damage and drought is also affecting Niger's neighbours Mauritania, Mali and Burkina Faso.
Aid these days is a multi billion dollar industry that provides a huge number of well paid jobs. What is going on here re Niger and why was the UN so slow to respond in Darfur last year? No doubt the majority of aid workers do a magnificent job but, since the whole business is funded from the public purse, where is the accountability and who is responsible for taking a year to act on getting emergency food to people who are starving?
Excerpt from the report:
The aid is fully funded by the UK's Department for International Development, out GBP 3m pledged to help Niger's estimated 3.6m people in need.
A World Food Programme plane is also preparing to leave Italy with food.
Oxfam is urging the United Nations to form a $1bn emergency fund so future famines can be tackled without delay.
The Save the Children flight from Ostend to the Niger capital Niamey will be carrying specialist food and equipment to support one month of feeding for severely malnourished children and those recovering from malnutrition.
The WFP plane from Rome will be carrying 80 tons of high-nutrition biscuits and logistical equipment.
Agencies including the Red Cross and Medecins Sans Frontieres have already started feeding some children, but many people have to be turned back from feeding centres because there is not enough aid for all.
On Saturday the United Nations' relief chief said aid had finally begun to arrive in Niger, but only after graphic pictures of starving children were broadcast last week.
Appeals in November, March and May had failed to generate enough aid.
Experts are warning the crisis could get worse before it gets better.
The combination of locust damage and drought is also affecting Mauritania, Mali and Burkina Faso.
Aid agency Oxfam said the famine could have been prevented if there had been an emergency fund, despite the slowness of the international community to respond to appeals.
Oxfam's proposal for an emergency fund is on the agenda for a special United Nations summit in September.
"Starvation does not have to be inevitable," said Oxfam campaigns director Phil Bloomer.
posted by Ingrid J. Jones at Wednesday, July 27, 2005
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