Niger: 3.6 million people short of food - 43,000 people live as slaves

Photo: Mariama Oumarou, 20, recounts how she escaped a life of slavery during an interview in Niger's capital Niamey in this July 3, 2005 file photo. Describing scenes that sound like horror stories from past centuries, the testimonies of women once trapped in lives of servitude suggest slavery is thriving in the West African country of Niger despite the government's denials. London-based human rights group Anti-Slavery International says 43,000 people live as slaves in Niger. Picture taken July 3, 2005. (Finbarr O'reilly/Reuters July 11, 2005)



Photo: Girls carry water from a well at a village in southern Niger, July 2, 2005. The worst drought in years has left 3.6 million people short of food in the West African country. Already counted among the poorest of the world's poor, Niger's farmers simply cannot afford to buy what is still on offer. Their children, in ones and twos, are beginning to die, for want of a few cents worth of food. Poverty is killing them. As the Group of Eight industrialised countries meet in Scotland next week to discuss ways to help Africa, Niger's emaciated children provide a case study of rich world inaction. REUTERS/Finbarr O'Reilly July 2, 2005



Photo: A farmer listens to his transistor radio as he returns home from work near the village of Koumboula in southern Niger June 30, 2005. Aid workers say cases of malnutrition have rocketed among children in Niger in the past few months after the worst drought in years aggravated chronic food shortages in one of the world's poorest countries, which lies just south of the Sahara. (REUTERS/Finbarr O'Reilly June 30. 2005)

Tags: Niger slaves slavery Anti-Slavery International Poverty G8 transistor radio Koumboula aid workers Sahara