Why starving in Niger?

Photo: An emaciated boy waits for treatment at an emergency feeding centre in the town of Tahoua in northwestern Niger, August 2, 2005.

Reuters says Niger's food crisis shows how the world often only reacts to pleas for help from the poorest countries after missing earlier opportunities to avert disaster, forcing donors to pay for much costlier emergency aid.

Relief workers blame the neglect partly on a general fatigue for African hunger crises from Malawi to Sudan, but Niger has raised more complex questions over aid policy, funding and longer-term solutions. (Reuters/Finbarr via Yahoo)

Tags: Niger Africa starvation drought famine