Article published July 22, 2005 toledoblade.com:
MENTION of the African country of Niger these days calls to mind the uranium yellowcake that former Ambassador Joseph Wilson determined Iraq did not buy there, undercutting President Bush's claim to the contrary in a pre-Iraq war State of the Union message.
Would for Niger that that was its only claim to fame. Unfortunately, that large, poor, dry African country is currently suffering the results of five years of drought and a plague of locusts that ate last year's grain harvest. It is estimated that the lives of some 3 million people, a quarter of its population, are at risk from the food shortfall and that thousands of children will die unless international relief is provided immediately. Footage of the suffering is already showing up on television.
The United Nations signaled the problem nine months ago, but unfortunately, the world response has been sluggish. African problems that have attracted attention recently have been more in the nature of violent conflict, notably the Darfur region of Western Sudan, fighting in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe's efforts to drive his economy entirely into the ground through insane policies.
Niger's famine is more a quiet tragedy. The country is ranked by the United Nations as the second poorest in the world, after only war-torn Sierra Leone in its grinding poverty.
The United Nations is currently struggling to increase food aid to Niger to slow down the deaths, but its modest $6.2 million budget is still only one-third funded. It is an expensive way to do things but the Bush Administration could do itself a lot of good by using some of America's military air assets, not that far away in Iraq, and some of our country's surplus agricultural products to save the lives of the children of Niger.
Tags: Niger Mugabe Darfur Congo malnutrition aid workers Zimbabwe Iraq West Africa drought Plumpynut United Nations famine Bush Sierra Leone tragedy
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