Huge spend urged on African water

Arica's water systems need annual investments of about $20bn over the next two decades, a United Nations report has concluded.

The African Development Bank (ADB) says that only 3.8% of the continent's water resources are developed.

About 300 million Africans lack access to safe drinking water, and the ADB says money also needs to be spent on irrigation and hydropower.

Full story BBC 20 March 2006.

Dirty water 'kills 1.5m children'

More than 1.5m children under five die each year because they lack access to safe water and proper sanitation, says the United Nations children's agency.

In a report, Unicef says that despite some successes, a billion people worldwide do not have access to safe drinking water from protected sources.

More than 1.2 billion people have gained access to safe water since 1990.

But sub-Saharan Africa remains a major area of concern, especially countries affected by conflict.

A Unicef deputy-director, Vanessa Tobin, gave the example of Niger, where only 13% of the population has access to toilets of an acceptable standard, or better.

She said it "certainly is a contributing factor in the cholera outbreaks" in Niger.

Full story BBC 28 Sep 2006.

DARFUR/CHAD/MDJT rebels: Armed assailants attack convoy in northern Niger

NIAMEY, Aug 11 (Reuters) - hat tip Coalition for Darfur:

One soldier was killed and another abducted in northern Niger when armed men attacked and robbed a goods convoy being escorted by the army near the desert town of Agadez, military sources said on Friday.

The region around the ancient trading town, some 1,700 km (1,000 miles) north of the capital Niamey, was the centre of an uprising by Tuareg nomads in the 1990s and remains notorious for banditry and smuggling.

Local radio, however, reported the assailants were rebels from neighbouring Chad. Military sources declined to speculate.

"We have begun a pursuit and we prefer to remain cautious about the nationality of the attackers," said one army source, who asked not to be identified.

The attackers seized five vehicles containing cigarettes bound for Libya, the main market for tobacco in the region.

The lawless expanse of northern Niger -- which borders Chad, Libya and Algeria -- has also become a haven in recent years for Algerian rebels.

N'Djamena signed a peace deal last year with the Movement for Democracy and Justice in Chad (MDJT) rebel movement to end its uprising in northern Chad, which had spilled over the border into Niger.

Other rebel groups dedicated to toppling Chadian President Idriss Deby continue to operate in the country's east, using the Sudanese region of Darfur as an operating base.

These rebel groups launched a foiled assault on N'Djamena in April, which killed hundreds of people just weeks before polls which handed Deby a new five-year term.

Oxfam: Africa famine response 'too little, too late'

Reuters report by Andrew Cawthorne via Mail & Guardian 24 July 2006:

Food emergencies in Africa are occurring three times more often now than in the mid-1980s, but the global response to famine continues to be "too little, too late", the international aid agency Oxfam said on Monday.

Conflict, HIV/Aids and climate change are all exacerbating food shortages for sub-Saharan Africa's 750-million people, with innovative solutions and massive long-term support needed to break the cycle, the British-based group added in a new report.

"It will cost the world far less to make a major investment now in tackling root causes of hunger than continuing the current cycle of too little, too late that has been the reality of famine relief in Africa for nearly half a century," Oxfam Britain's director Barbara Stocking said.

Billions of dollars of aid have been pumped into sub-Saharan Africa in recent decades, and its problems have received unprecedented international attention of late from grassroots campaigners and world leaders like Britain's Tony Blair.

But despite that, a "myopic, short-term" focus has prevailed, with emergency food aid still dominating international action on Africa, rather than long-term support of agriculture, infrastructure and social safety nets, Oxfam said.

It cited this year's drought in East Africa, where up to 11-million people still require urgent assistance, and renewed food insecurity in Niger, where at least one-million people are vulnerable in coming months, as evidence of ongoing crisis.

A third of Africans are under-nourished, Oxfam said, while the number of food emergencies has nearly tripled in 20 years. Nearly half of Africans live on less than a dollar a day.

"MORALLY UNACCEPTABLE"

Conflicts cause more than half of food crises, Oxfam said, citing violence in north Uganda and Sudan's Darfur region.

"Darfur, where 3,4-million people are dependent on food aid, is a classic example of the devastating humanitarian emergency that conflict creates," it said.

The HIV/Aids epidemic is taking "a terrifying toll" on one of the continent's key resources for food production -- its people. Oxfam said a fifth of the agricultural workforce in Southern African countries will have died from HIV/Aids by 2020.

And climate change is "wreaking havoc on the livelihoods of small landholders and nomadic pastoralist", the agency added, citing research that 55-65 million more Africans could be at risk of hunger by the 2080s because of temperature rises.

"The story of nearly half a century of attempts at sophisticated and sustainable solutions to hunger in Africa is not a happy one," added the Oxfam report, "Causing Hunger".

As well as supporting long-term projects, Oxfam said real solutions to Africa's food crisis should include:
Buying aid from developing countries. "Most food aid is still imported, meaning it can take up to 5 months to deliver and cost up to 50% more than food purchased locally."
Money-based schemes such as food vouchers, cash-for-work programmes or direct cash transfers.
Increased foreign aid for agriculture, which in fact dropped 43% in the decade to 2002.
More local funds for agriculture, with governments honouring a 2003 African Union pledge to increase spending on the sector to 10% of budgets.

"For people to be hungry in Africa in the 21st century is neither inevitable nor morally acceptable," Oxfam said.

"The world's emergency response requires an overhaul ... the stop-start approach must give way to longer-term support."

Pictures of the $100 laptop: 1st working model of One Laptop Per Child (OLPC)

From May 23, 2006 blog entry by Pablo Halkyard at PSD blog - The World Bank Group:

Pictures from the unveiling of the first working prototype of the $100 Laptop at the Seven Countries Task Force today. Green became orange, and the hand-crank is gone. Compare with Intel's sub-$400 entry and AMD's $185 version.

Note, at the entry a techie commented: "Awesome. I want one. What is there to stop gringos from buying them all to have their recipes on the kitchen or to use as poolside or beach laptop?"

Click here to learn about One Laptop per Child and view pictures of original green prototype with hand crank.



Photo: 1st working model (OLPC) - taken at 11:45 AM on May 23, 2006; cameraphone upload by ShoZu - Uploaded to flickr by Pete Barr-Watson

Bird flu now found in Burkina Faso

On April 4, 2006 Keith noted Bird flu now found in Burkina Faso - the 5th African country to confirm the presence of the deadly H5N1 bird flu virus.

Niger begins cull weeks after finding bird flu

Niger began culling poultry on Sunday, more than a month after it first discovered an outbreak of deadly avian flu near its southern border with Nigeria.

Full story Reuters 9 Apr 2006.

Niger to block foreign press reporting food crisis - What's up with Mr Tandja?

Today, Reuters says Niger's government denied it had stripped the journalists of their accreditation, saying it had summoned them to explain that their coverage was one-sided and did not present the country's efforts to solve its problems:

"We did not expel the BBC. We summoned the team to say their report had caused shock and Niger is more than just recurring food shortages," said Fogue Aboubacar, secretary-general at the Culture, Arts and Communication Ministry.

"Niger is also about the authorities attempts to solve these problems and one must stop focusing on the negative side," he added. "That is what happened in 2005 and we are not going to tolerate it, especially as harvests have been good."

"Be it the BBC, CNN or any other media, we will not hand out more accreditation on the food situation," he said.

Full report.
- - -

Committee to Protect Journalists

SPJ News Alert - excerpt: CPJ sources said that government officials insisted that the BBC team had been granted visas to cover bird flu and that they had exceeded their authorization. Government spokesman Mohamed Ben Omar told Radio France Internationale today that any journalist was free to come to Niger but that "telling stories that are not true is another matter." CPJ attempts to get further comment from the government were unsuccessful.
- - -

What's up with Mr Tandja?

Ali at The Salon writes What's up with Mr. Tandja? and asks "Does someone understand this better than I do?"

I have left a comment at Ali's post, providing a link to a post here at Niger Watch. Last year, I used this blog to monitor reports on Niger's alleged famine. Sorry, right now I am unable to spend more time blogging but if you are interested in getting an insight into why Niger is blocking the press from reporting on Niger's food market, please scroll through each month of archives here in the sidebar, particularly August and September of last year. There are not a great deal of posts within each month, just glancing through the titles will give you an idea of why Niger's Government says it is against the media "telling stories that are not true" - and make up your own mind as to why Niger is being proactive this year in its handling of the media. I'll try write more on this when able at a later date, right now I am upkeeping several blogs and it is time consuming tracking and reading daily news reports on the Sudan, Uganda, DRC, Ethiopia and Niger.

Niger halts BBC hunger coverage

Niger has withdrawn permission for a BBC team which found evidence of hunger in the country to continue to report on the humanitarian situation there, BBC reported 3 April 2006. Excerpt:

Officials said international and local media would not be allowed to do stories about the food situation as they did not want that subject touched. Hunger and malnutrition are recurrent problems in Niger, which is the poorest country in the world.

Last week the United Nations included Niger in a major fundraising appeal. Officials said they they did not want foreign or local media to report about food supplies or malnutrition. The officials also criticised aid agencies without naming names, claiming that some of the funds raised for Niger last year did not reach their destination.

LIBERIA-NIGERIA-SIERRA LEONE: Handcuffed Taylor deposited at war crimes court

IRIN report Mar 29, 2006 - excerpt:

UN peacekeepers delivered handcuffed former Liberian president Charles Taylor into the custody of a UN-backed Special Court in Sierra Leone on Wednesday where he will be the first former African head of state to face prosecution for war crimes before an international tribunal.

A UN helicopter brought Taylor from the Liberian capital Monrovia directly to the landing pad of the Special Court in Freetown where officials whisked him directly to his waiting cell.

Nigerian police captured Taylor, who is indicted on 17 counts of war crimes, on Tuesday after he disappeared from the mansion where he was living in exile in the south of the country.

Taylor was detained Tuesday night in Borno state in northeastern Nigeria, Information Minister Frank Nweke told reporters. Authorities immediately informed Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo who is on a visit to the United States and the Nigerian leader ordered Taylor's immediate deportation to Liberia.

"Taylor was received as soon as he landed and the UNMIL peacekeepers read him his rights and he was handcuffed by peacekeepers," Liberia's chief prosecutor, Tiaon Gongloe told reporters after Taylor's departure in a white UN helicopter.

A UN Security Council resolution late last year mandated UN peacekeepers in Liberia "to apprehend and detain former president Charles Taylor" in the event of his return to Liberian territory and depose him with the Special Court in Sierra Leone.

6 Niger soldiers up for mutiny

A military tribunal in Niger has convicted six soldiers for their role in a 2002 mutiny, but has acquitted 57 co-defendants, say legal sources.

Soldiers mutinied in Niamey on the night of August 4-5th 2002, in support of a 10-day mutiny by comrades demanding better pay and conditions hundreds of kilometres away in Diffa, near the border with Nigeria.

A military tribunal in Kollo, just outside Niamey, tried 63 soldiers for acts harmful to state security, insurrection and rebellion.

Full report (News 24 SA) 10 March 2006.

The 21st century's most explosive commodity will be . . . WATER

There's plenty of it to meet the world's needs but too much of our supply is in the wrong places says a report at thebusinessonline.com by Allister Heath 5 March 2006, copied here in full for future reference:

WHISKY is for drinking, water is for fighting over - or so Mark Twain once remarked. He was right. Water has played a central, albeit usually overlooked, role in conflicts throughout human history, far more so even than oil; and many of the wars of the 21st century will be fought over the clear, cool stuff.

During the past 50 years alone, there have been 507 conflicts pitting country against country, and 21 instances of actual hostilities, as a result of disagreements over water. All of which puts in perspective the row in the UK over last week's decision to allow water companies to impose metering to force water consumers to face the true costs of their water consumption - it even makes the looming drought and hosepipe bans in the South of England almost bearable in comparison.

Water historian Peter Gleick, director of worldwater.org and the author of a unique chronology of water wars, has discovered a huge history of conflicts and tensions over water resources, the use of water systems as weapons during war, and the targeting of water systems during conflicts. The earliest known example dates back to 3,000 BC. Well before the remarkably similar accounts of the Great Flood to be found in the Bible, ancient Sumerian legend tells the tale of the deity Ea, who punished humanity for its sins with a devastating six-day storm.

There have been hundreds more instances of water wars across the ages, involving just about everybody from Nebuchadnezzar to Louis XIV and famous military operations such as the Dam Busters during the second world war. In 1503, Leonardo da Vinci and Machievelli planned to divert the Arno River away from Pisa during hostilities between Pisa and Florence. Astonishingly, Arizona and California almost went to war in 1935 over the construction of the Parker Dam and diversions from the Colorado River.

In the late 1970s, Ethiopia's wish to build dams on the headwaters of the Blue Nile led to a furious reaction from Egypt. "The only matter that could take Egypt to war again is water," said Mohamed Anwar al-Sadat, the Egyptian president later assassinated. Boutros Boutros-Ghali, an Egyptian diplomat who became UN secretary-general, said in 1988: "The next war in our region will be over the waters of the Nile, not politics."

During the past 15 years, there have been armed conflicts over water in Bangladesh, Tadjikistan, Malaysia, Yugoslavia, Angloal, East Timor, Namibia, Bostwana, Zambia, Ecuador and Peru. Several terrorist groups have threatened to poison water systems and water distribution has been regularly targeted in Iraq.

The fundamental problem is that access rights to water are often badly defined. Unlike with other commodities, the institutions of modern capitalism property rights, private companies, free market prices - have rarely been applied to water, and especially not to water flows that cross different countries. The result is that countries all too often use non-commercial methods to arrange their water supplies - such as finders-keepers, war or diplomatic deals.

Individual water molecules cannot be owned or subjected to property rights. But rules and agreements about who can use water and in what way, or who can have access to or the right to divert rivers, lakes or underground reserves, need to be found. And the best rules for all goods and services, including the most precious of commodities, are the rules of the market. Water and river rights could easily be traded.

At the moment, however, rational ways of allocating water are sorely missing. "Few agreements have been reached about how the water should be shared; most of those agreements are seen as un-just: upstream countries believe they should control the flow of the rivers, taking what they like, if they can get away with it. Downstream, where the states are often more advanced and militarily stronger ,they have always challenged this assumption, like Egypt and Israel. It is a recipe for confrontation," according to Adel Darwish, co-author of Water Wars: Coming Conflicts in the Middle East with John Bulloch.

Countries such as Egypt, Hungary, Botswana, Cambodia and Syria all derive more than 75% of their water from rivers that flow though other countries first. In the same way that oil and gas pipelines that go through hostile countries can be siphoned off or blown up to cut supplies to rival countries, water flows can be diverted with devastating effect.

"Particularly tricky are cases where one river, or river system, provides water to many nations, some of which may be steadfast political or ideological opponents. But there can be conflicts even between countries with otherwise excellent relations if they have the same watercourse as their principal source of water supply. If one country starts emptying the river, less will be left over for the countries downstream," says Frederik Segerfeldt, senior adviser to the Confederation of Swedish Enterprise.

At last count, there were 263 river basins shared by two or more countries and these were home to roughly 40% of the global population, according to Unesco. In most cases, the institutions needed to regulate how water resources should be used are either weak or missing altogether.

One particular area of contention is the Jordan River basin, which is divided between Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, Palestine and Israel. Its supply of water is critical to Palestine, Israel and Jordan, and very important to Lebanon and Syria. The problem, each time, is who owns the water, how the water should be shared out between different countries and under what conditions.

Partly as a result, water has also played a critical but much under-reported role in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and other wars in the region. The six-day war, which pitted Syria, Jordan and Egypt against Israel, had partly to do with a disagreement over water. One of the reasons why Israel has been reluctant to pull out of the Golan Heights and the West Bank is because it feared losing control of water flows and handing over control of them to hostile forces.

The absence of proper property rights in water also fuels tensions within countries, pitting town against town or region against region. There is a growing number of disagreements about who can or cannot use water from a particular source in the US. "From Montana to Michigan, from septic systems to centre-pivots, we wage war over water - its cleanliness, its availability, its highest use, its commodification, its spiritual essence. And as history proceeds from the settling of the prairies to the sprawling of suburbs, the struggles are becoming increasingly intense," says Douglas Clement of the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis.

The answer, many economists believe, is to move towards a system of international tradeable water rights, recognised by the courts. Companies could buy and sell rights to water use, both within countries and internationally; all subsidised water for farmers and industry would be halted and all consumers would pay competitive prices, with the poor looked after. Water companies would be broken up and privatised; government-imposed barriers to competition would be lifted. Polluters would be faced with strict liability rules and would have to pay for cleaning up rivers, lakes or underground reserves.

The introduction of market forces would be especially positive for poor countries. Even in areas of the world without water wars, a horrendously large number of people are short of good quality, clean, drinking water and sanitation. The World Health Organisation (WHO) has estimated that more than 2bn people are affected by water shortages in more than 40 countries: 1.1bn do not have enough drinking water and 2.4bn have no provision for sanitation. This has led to disease, lack of food security and much conflict. An estimated 25,000 people are still dying every day from malnutrition and 6,000 people, mostly children under the age of five, are dying from water-related diseases, according to the UN. This is a tragedy in urgent need of attention from the world, especially rich countries. But despite repeated statements of intent from international bodies such as the UN, little has been done.

So why so many conflicts and so much misery? Taking a global perspective, the problem is not that there this is too little water; in fact water is extraordinarily plentiful, a perfectly renewable resource that can be used over and over again. Instead, the challenge is getting the water to the right places and the right people; the issue is one of the misallocation of a scarce resource and is thus economic and political in nature, not physical or scientific.

A physical water shortage is mainly confined to countries of the Arab world, a few countries or regions in south and south-east Asia and parts of Australia. But there is economic water scarcity in much of the developing world. "The problem is not the amount of water available but the inability to produce and distribute safe water," says Segerfeldt, author of Water for Sale, published by the Cato Institute in Washington.

About two-thirds of the earth's surface is made up of water; if one strips out sea water, which of course can quite easily be turned into drinking water with the help of desalination plants, one is still left with 2.3m litres per person.

There is also plenty of rain: each year, 113,000 cubic kilometres showers down on the earth. Much of it evaporates but we are left with 19,000 litres a day per person. The global economy consumes only about 1,300 litres per person a day, 6.8% of the daily rainfall. The United Nations does the sums differently and finds that we use about 8% of the available water every year - but of course, unlike oil, which can only be used once, this water can endlessly be recycled.

Moving control of water distribution and sanitation services in developing countries out of the public sector and into the hands of private companies and a competitive market is the only realistic way to ensure that more people have access to clean and safe water, many economists believe.

"Water crises need not occur if individuals are allowed to respond to scarcity through market processes," says the Political Economy Research Center, an environmental think-tank in Montana. Forecasts of imminent natural resource shortages are often wrong because they ignore the impact of market forces on supply and demand, say Terry Anderson and Pamela Snyder, economists at the centre.

Higher prices induce suppliers to find new sources of supply and users to conserve and search for substitutes - and it would be the same for water were it subject to market forces globally. If governments send the wrong signals to suppliers and users by subsidising water storage and delivery, exponential growth in consumption will inevitably run into environmental and fiscal constraints. But if progress towards greater reliance on markets continues, water supplies and efficiency will increase as users trade with one another, and consumption will be tamed by higher prices. But numerous charities and lobby groups disagree.

They fear that the poor will not be able to afford water in a free market and claim that because it is essential to human life it should be free. But food, which is also a crucial requirement, is not free, and those countries that have tried going down that road have suffered catastrophe. Worst of all, the public sector is already failing to supply poor people with water: 22 people around the world are dying every minute because they are unable to get enough clean water from state-owned distributors.

By contrast, the overwhelming evidence from those countries or cities that have experimented with privatisation is that it has been a great success. The cost of obtaining water actually falls when the poor are connected to a water network: in Laos, water from street salesmen costs 136 times more than water from the official network; in Indonesia, the difference is as much as 489 times.

Access to clean water has increased following privatisation in every poor country that has tried it properly. In Tunja, Colombia, access rose by 10% following privatisation; in Gabon the figure was almost 15%. Cartagena, Colombia, posted access increases of 26%, Conakry, Guinea, of 24% and in La Paz and El Alto, Bolivia, of 10%. In Chile, 99% of urban residents, as well as 94% of rural residents, are now supplied with water all day round, which contrasts favourably with pre-privatisation figures of 63% and 27% respectively. Corrientes, Argentina, and Cote d'Ivoire saw increases of almost 15%.

Mischa Balen, a former researcher for UK Energy Minister Malcolm Wicks, is the author of a pro-privatisation book to be published on World Water Day on 22 March by the Globalisation Institute. "Government provision in water has overseen millions of deaths through lack of sanitation and unsafe water. Bringing in private sector expertise and investment is needed, both to meet the UN's Millennium Development Goals, but to actively contribute towards social justice the world over. In the vast majority of cases, where the private sector has been called upon, it has delivered the goods - even in cases decried by critics as 'failures'," Balen argues.

While the UK water industry is no poster child for privatisation, it has nevertheless shown the potential of harnessing market forces. The 1990 privatisation of the industry was in fact limited and the market remains highly regulated. The industry is not free to set the prices it wants and competition is restricted. Anyone who lives in the UK will have plenty of anecdotes about the incompetence or poor service of their local water company.

But the industry has successfully invested about £50bn since privatisation and water prices have gone up by less than inflation. Leaks, which still remain high, are down 30% and will fall further over the next four years. Instead of being able to concentrate on the leaks, the industry was forced by European Union directives to improve water purity first, to levels that some analysts believe were unnecessarily high.

The move to allow companies to impose metering on their customers and hence to enable them to charge for water usages, rather than merely a flat fee, is expected to cut water consumption by 5% to 15% – and for many households in the South of England, bills have fallen after meters were introduced. But meters alone are not enough. "The issue is not a lack of water meters per se, but a lack of true market prices for water. We should treat water the same as any other good or service traded in our economy. When water becomes more scarce, a rising price acts as a signal to both consumers and companies that they need to modify their behaviour," says Kendra Okonski, of the International Policy Network.

As economist Terry Anderson once put it, when water is cheaper than dirt, it will be treated that way - and that is the great problem with water in the world today. Unless it is priced rationally and managed by markets, countries will continue to go to war over it and the poor continue to die from a lack of it.

Niger: New Cases of Bird Flu Suspected, Government Calls for Help to Fight H5N1

IRIN report March 3, 2006 via allAfrica.com:

New suspected cases of bird flu have emerged in three locations in Niger, days after the country became the third in Africa to be confirmed to be infected by the deadly H5N1 virus.

Dead birds have been found in the towns of Goure and Dogo - in the centre-south of the country near the border with infected states in Nigeria, and in N'Guigmi farther east, which also shares a border with Chad. Tissue samples from the three areas are on their way to the capital Niamey to be sent to a laboratory in Italy for testing.

The same lab on Tuesday announced that the bird flu virus was found in domestic ducks from Magaria, Niger, near the border with Nigeria, the first African country to be struck.

Government spokesperson Mohamed Ben Oumar told Radio France Internationale on Thursday that authorities plan to destroy poultry within a three-mile radius of infected areas, and put all birds in a 10-mile radius under "high medical surveillance."

Niger - among the world's poorest countries - has a plan to fight bird flu, but not the means. The government called on the international community this week to help, saying it needs essential equipment such as protective clothing including masks and boots, vaccines, disinfectant and diagnostic kits. The government says even the vehicles and refrigeration units it has available are not sufficient to handle the bird flu threat.

"Niger cannot cope alone, given the scale [of the problem] and the danger at hand - we are obliged to ask for help from the international community," Ben Oumar said.

The government statement said that in its budget for bird flu eradication it is planning to assist those who lose their livestock.

Niger had banned poultry products from countries infected with H5N1 late last year then ordered a total ban on poultry imports after the virus hit neighbouring Nigeria 8 February.

Niger Uranium Rumors Wouldn't Die (LA Times tries to support 'Joe the Liar')

See Free Republic 17 Feb 2006.

Poor compensation plans impeding bird flu fight in west Africa - Yahoo! News

Niger had pledged to pay 1,000 CFA francs (1.5 euros) per chicken in case of mass slaughter but poultry farmers say the sum is peanuts.

"It's largely inadequate and unfair. Any poultry expert will tell you that it costs at least 4,000 CFA francs (more than six euros) to raise a chicken until it starts bringing in profits," said Harouna Labo, one of Niger's largest poultry farmers.

A chicken seller in the Niger town of Maradi was more explicit.

"Whoever wants to kill my chickens has to do so over my dead body," said Almou Abdou.

Full story AFP at Yahoo News 23 Feb 2006.

Niger: Journalist freed after 18 days detention in libel case

CPJ News 21 Feb 2006:

The Committee to Protect Journalists welcomes the release of newspaper director Ibrahim Manzo, who spent 18 days in preventive detention awaiting the outcome of a defamation case. A court in Niamey, capital of Niger, handed Manzo a suspended one-month prison sentence on Monday and ordered his release, local journalists told CPJ.

Niger 'coup' trial of 70 soldiers

From the BBC 21 Feb 2006:

Seventy soldiers have gone on trial in Niger's capital, Niamey, for their alleged role in an attempted coup three years ago.

The soldiers are accused of being part of a group of mutinous troops who violently protested against their living conditions and unpaid wages

It escalated into a mutiny both in the capital and in the region of Diffa.

At one point a state governor and several senior army officers were kidnapped.

At least two civilians were reported to have been killed in the unrest that was finally quelled by troops loyal to the government.

The BBC's Idy Barou in Niger says if the military tribunal convicts the men they could face the death penalty.

France helps Niger test for bird flu

Niger's government launched its first ministerial missions into rural areas this weekend to educate people on how to minimise the threat from bird flu.

A team of French and German experts will visit the country from February 24 to March 4 to assist Niger's response to bird flu, the French embassy said.

Full story Reuters 20 Feb 2006.

Armed men storm firm in Nigeria's delta

Around 20 armed men stormed the headquarters of a South Korean oil services company in Nigeria's lawless delta and stole more than $30,000 (17,000 pounds), police said on Sunday, in the latest attack on foreign firms. Full report Reuters 29 Jan 2006.

Nigeria rebels claim more attacks

Nigerian militants who say they have kidnapped four foreign oil workers and attacked on a Shell oil platform say they have carried out more attacks.
The group says it attacked platforms run by the Total and Agip oil firms. Both companies have denied the claims.

The increased tension in the Niger Delta region has pushed up oil prices to more than $67 (£38) a barrel.

The four foreign workers, who are said to be in good health, have been held hostage for close to a week.

In a statement, the previously unknown rebel group, the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta, said its ultimate aim was "to prevent Nigeria from exporting oil".

"We will attack all oil companies, including Chevron facilities," it said. "Pipelines, loading points, export tankers, tank farms, refined petroleum depots, landing strips and residences of employees of these companies can expect to be attacked."

"We know where they live, shop and where the children go to school," it added.

The group want local Ijaw people to benefit more from the region's oil wealth and are demanding the release of separatist leader Mujahid Dokubu Asari, being held on treason charges, by Friday.

Full report (BBC) 18 January, 2006.

Armed men attack Shell oil platform in Nigeria, military says

Associated Press reports that armed men opened fire Sunday on soldiers guarding an oil platform run by Royal Dutch Shell in the swamps of Nigeria's southern oil-rich delta, the third assault in less than a week on Shell facilities in the troubled region, a senior military official said:

Soldiers guarding the Benisede facility in the west of the Niger Delta returned automatic weapons fire, but it was unclear if they had lost control of the oil platform, said Brig. Gen. Elias Zamani, commander of a special task force charged with security in the volatile oil region.Zamani had no other details and said the military was investigating.

On Wednesday, gunmen attacked Shell's EA platform in shallow waters near the delta coast, seizing a Bulgarian, an American, a British and a Honduran. A major Shell pipeline leading to its Forcados export terminal was blown up the following day.

Though Shell resumed some production cut last week, the first two attacks initially forced a 10 percent drop in Nigeria's oil exports.

A previously unknown militant group, Movement for Niger Delta Emancipation, claimed responsibility for first two attacks, warning all Western oil companies to leave the Niger Delta for their safety and calling on the government to release militia leader Mujahid Dokubo-Asari.Dokubo-Asari campaigned for secession and greater local control of oil wealth before he was jailed in September and charged with treason.

Nigeria is Africa's leading oil exporter and the fifth-biggest source of U.S. oil imports. The country produces about 2.5 million barrels a day."

See AP report in full 15 January, 2006:

Digimotion Digital Album - Powerful stuff, check it out.

See my latest entry at Sudan Watch: Digimotion Digital Album - Powerful stuff, check it out.

Ingrid Patetta films Niger's nomads of the Azawak valley

Ingrid Patetta is a french documentary filmmaker and video editor.

Funny we should share the same first name. Ingrid stumbled upon my blog Niger Watch blog during a search on blogger and emailed me.

Note Ingrid's blog featuring a video she shot in Niger about the nomads of the Azawak valley, and website showing video 'Agadez, Gateway to the Sahara'.

Malawian President declares food shortage national disaster: No money for Malawi?

The news wires are circulating various reports on alarming news from Malawi. Contango's post entitled "No money for Malawi" says while the world's attention is drawn to northern Pakistan and India, there is not enough money to get food for the people of Malawi. Excerpt:

"These are real people, and it's time to listen when an African President speak like this:

Malawian President Bingu wa Mutharika has declared a national disaster over the food shortages which are threatening almost half the population. In a radio and TV broadcast, the president said the crisis had worsened and the country needed more help.

UN estimates suggest about five million people will need aid after Malawi's worst harvest for more than a decade. Mr Mutharika had been criticised for denying reports of deaths from hunger-related illnesses in Malawi.

And, as the BBC points out; It is not just Malawi which is threatened - across southern Africa, the UN estimates that 12 million people will need help in the coming year."

Apologies to Contango for cribbing whole post but I am supposed to be on a break from blogging over next 5-6 weeks and can't keep up with everything on the Sudan and Uganda without going into full swing.

Just wanted to post this news on Malawi incase any readers here can throw light on what is going on. I am posting it here in Niger Watch to keep some examples of how news of food shortages/famine emerge, especially after Niger turned out not to be a famine at all [see earlier posts here below how world was accused of turning its back on the starving children of Niger].

The Economics of Famine in Niger

Excerpt from a post on the economics of famine in Niger at DropoutPostgrad:

A U.N. report found that prices in markets in Niger have shot up sharply because of profiteering, said James Morris, executive director of the U.N. World Food Program, speaking from San Francisco. Some traders, he said, have raised prices in anticipation of the arrival of aid groups, which often buy food locally to save on transport costs.

Visit www.niger1.com for daily updates about the famine in Niger.



Paul Stoller artwork courtesy Gallery Bundu
http://www.niger1.com/hausa.htm



Touareg son
Courtesy http://www.niger1.com/touaregculture.htm
Learn more about Touareg culture

Submissions Welcomed For Spotlight On Darfur 2

If you wish to contribute a blog entry for Spotlight on Darfur 2, please contact Eddie Beaver at Live From The FDNF in time for 16 October 2005 deadline.

Jim Moore, co-founder of Sudan: Passion of the Present, recently posted a note from Eddie on this initiative with an important PINR report from Michael Weinstein.

Note, Catez Stevens in New Zealand initiated and hosted Spotlight on Darfur 1 round up of posts authored by 14 different bloggers from around the world. Jim Moore, in praise of this, writes:

"In my view this work is so fine as to be almost historic. It combines the literary quality of a small, carefully edited book, with the global accessibility of works on the web."



Last May, Catez also produced The Darfur Collection.

Image courtesy Tim Sweetman's post Let Us Weep.

Tags: Darfur Sudan Africa allthings2all aid bloggers Live 8 Live From The FDNF Darfur Collection Spotlight on Darfur

UN plans to end large-scale food aid to Niger

BBC news Sep 16 says Niger's prime minister lashed out at donors, saying it was necessary to stop the aid so that Niger does not become reliant on aid:

Niger's PM agrees with UN plans to end large-scale food aid, which he described as an affront to the country's dignity.

"Our dignity suffered. And we've seen how people exploit images to pledge aid that never arrives to those who really need it."

The UN's World Food Programme maintains that cutting aid now will allow food prices in Niger to normalise after escalating during months of severe shortages.

MSF has warned that with almost a million people not yet fed, it is too soon to stop aid.

BBC's Hilary Andersson in Niger says that almost a million people who need it have still received no food aid at all and it is now six weeks since the aid began flowing into Niger in large quantities. She says that large numbers of young children are still dying in feeding centres.

An assessment by MSF this week indicates that more than 40 people a day are dying in just one area that they surveyed.

See full story by BBC September 16, 2005.

Sudan: Spotlight on Darfur 1 and The Darfur Collection

Huge thanks to Catez Stevens in New Zealand for initiating and hosting Spotlight on Darfur 1, a great round up of posts authored by 14 different bloggers from around the world.



Catez also produced The Darfur Collection last May.

Please email Catez at Allthings2all if you have a post for the next Spotlight on Darfur 2 or 3.

Picture courtesy Tim Sweetman's post Let Us Weep.

Thanks to Global Voices for their third post and links to my blog Congo Watch featuring this initiative.

Tags: Darfur Sudan Africa allthings2all aid bloggers blogburst

Katrina aid - Blogbursts - Spotlight on Darfur 1 and Darfur Collection

Further to an earlier post here below, I have just received word from Catez saying Spotlight on Darfur has been put forward to 5 September as the blogosphere has had planned blogbursts on Hurricane Katrina aid. This means bloggers can email Catez with posts until Sunday 4 September.

Thanks to Global Voices for picking up on my post at Congo Watch publicising the initiative.

Tags: Darfur Sudan Africa allthings2all Hurricane Katrina aid bloggers blogburst Global Voices

Can aid do more harm than good? Who is spinning lies?

As noted here in previous posts, Niger's President Mamadou Tandja recently said his country was experiencing food shortages but not a famine. He accused aid agencies of exaggerating the food crisis for their own gain, raising serious issues about the way aid emergencies are handled.

American blogger Ethan Zuckerman points out that Henri Astier, a BBC correspondent, after talking to aid workers and experts on African aid, concluded, on balance, that President Tanja was probably right and quoted Professor William Easterly of NYU, as saying:

"There were localised food shortages this year - but they were not particularly acute, and are now easing.

What Niger is experiencing is not a sudden catastrophe, but chronic malnutrition that makes people vulnerable to rises in food prices."

Note, the report also quotes Professor Easterly as saying

"I think NGOs and rich country media do have an incentive to paint too simplistic and bleak a picture, as was the case in Niger's food crisis."

So, going by the above [which does not appear to touch on issues of African politics, land ownership rights, corruption, looting, violence and arms dealing] they seem to be saying:

food aid can distort 'functioning' markets, causing increased food insecurity in the long term;
regional solutions are needed to solve shortages that are not regional famine - so long as participating governments allow that trade to happen and international donors are able to help subsidise food to poorer areas when neccesary.

Note, Ethan praises the BBC saying it provides a terrific space where people from outside Africa can discover, if they listen, that their proposed solutions are often - strongly and validly - opposed by the people they're trying to help.

Unless I have missed something, there still seems to be no proper explanation of who was behind the surge in alarming media reports falsely accusing the world of turning its back on the starving people of Niger.

Who is doing the spin? And why are they getting away with such misleading news? My guess is we are left to believe aid agencies are the culprits. Propaganda is everywhere in the media. It's hard to believe much of what is published. There is so little investigative reporting, the media treats us like simpletons, feeding us by the minute with nuggets of junk.
- - -

Irish Famine Memorial in Boston



Lest We Forget - Irish Famine Memorial in Boston
Photo courtesy http://www.flickr.com/photos/79586895@N00/35958094/
- - -

EU starving the developing world

Captain Marlow writes an insightful post on the EU starving the developing world. The post ends by saying:

"Sadly, everything has become a political issue and it is now impossible to trust reports on biotech, ecology, global warming. Numbers are manipulated to score political points, not to describe facts. The various activists seem to have played a self-defeating game here, since no one believes their alarmism anymore. The problem is that we all lose if we play this game instead of seriously looking for solutions."

Tags: Niger media aid famine crisis BBC Ethan Zuckerman Africa corruption lies donors spin propaganda Irish famine Boston

Spotlight on Darfur 1 and The Darfur Collection

Last May, Catez Stevens at Allthings2all in New Zealand kindly put together The Darfur Collection.

Now, Catez is initiating and hosting Spotlight on Darfur 1 starting September 1. It will feature posts on the current Darfur situation from various bloggers. If you are a blogger and would like to send in a post for inclusion in the Spotlight on Darfur please email Catez for details.

Eugene Oregon at Coalition for Darfur helpfully writes Reminder: Spotlight on Darfur 1.

Note, Catez is planning a regular series of Spotlight on Darfur. If you have missed Darfur 1, there is still plenty of time to prepare a post for Spotlight on Darfur 2 or 3 or 4 ...

Large areas of the aid system are in urgent need of reform

The government has been accused of wasting hundreds of thousands of pounds of African aid in Malawi.

BBC's Five Live Report found more than GBP 700,000 was spent on hotel bills and meals for US workers over four years. BBC Aug 28, 2005 report excerpts:

The National Audit Office said it may mount an investigation into the use of consultants by the Department for International Development (DFID).

One project in Malawi funded by the DFID has been accused of using international flights to fly in pens and notebooks bought in Washington DC.

Patrick Watt of charity Action Aid said: "(This is) another example of aid money not really getting down to people who most urgently need to benefit from it."

He said: "It's an example of phantom aid, when what Malawi needs is real aid."

Conservative international development spokesman Andrew Mitchell said there appears to have been a breakdown in "transparency and accountability".

"DFID need to get a grip and explain what has happened," Mr Mitchell said.

US agencies which had been brought in as consultants included the National Democratic Institute (NDI), used on a project to improve the parliamentary committee system in Malawi.

The GBP 1m donated to the project from US funds was used solely to pay for NDI staff there, the BBC report said.

Over the four years of the project, the DFID donated GBP 3m to the project. Of that, GBP 586,423 was spent on hotels in Malawi for the NDI staff. Another GBP 126,062 was spent on meals.

An ex-staff member said computers, notebooks and other stationery had been bought in Washington DC and flown over rather than bought locally.

World Learning, a US group which had been brought in to distribute GBP 4m of British money to strengthen Malawian society had to cancel the project after six months and a cost of GBP 300,000. Dozens of local staff face losing their jobs.

Mr Watt said the large amounts of money spent of administration and overseas staff meant "there are large areas of the aid system that are in urgent need of reform".

Malawian campaigner Rafiq Hajat said: "Where you have so-called experts who come from outside, charge exorbitant fees, live a five-star lifestyle and then go back having left a couple of reports mouldering on the shelf, that's how I would define phantom aid."

Africa to announce TB emergency

BBC Health Correspondent Ania Lichtarowicz reports today that health Ministers from across Africa are meeting in Mozambique to discuss the growing numbers of tuberculosis (TB) cases across the region.

Africa is particularly hit because of co-infections with HIV and a lack of health infrastructure to monitor and treat the disease.

The WHO hopes that by making TB a regional health emergency, it will put the disease back on the agenda.

Red Cross worker's Niger diary - UN chief promises aid for Niger

Red Cross worker Mark Snelling is about to return from Niger to London - in his diary he writes of signs of hope and says:

There will be many lessons for the world to learn from Niger once the emergency has passed.

Donors, governments, NGOs and the media must examine why we need to wait for a crisis to erupt before we fully respond. But we can also be proud of work well done.

Aid work must not be sentimentalised. Narcissistic rescue fantasies do not save lives.

There are ugly politics and crazy decisions here, just like everywhere else.

I have encountered some of the best people I've ever met in the humanitarian world, and on occasion some of the worst.

Blanket criticism of aid intervention will not help anyone either. Human suffering will always be with us, whatever we might say about making poverty history.

- - -

UN chief tours impoverished Niger

Kofi Annan visits eastern Niger to view a crippling food crisis that critics say the UN is failing to address properly.

Full story at BBC.
- - -

UN chief promises aid for Niger

United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan has promised Niger all the aid it needs to cope with the food crisis.

He was speaking after meeting President Mamadou Tandja at the end of his two-day trip to Niger.

The talks follow criticism of the UN's response to the shortages, which are affecting more than 2.5m people, with 32,000 children facing death.

Medical charity Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) said this week the UN's response was inadequate.

Mr Tandja has also criticised the UN effort, saying the problems have been exaggerated.

"We discussed the food crisis in Niger and in the region, and measures that ought to be taken to ensure what has happened this year, does not happen in the future," Mr Annan said. "But quite a lot of it requires regional cooperation."

He was also meeting local officials from UN and other aid agencies.

The UN has run an appeal but has been accused of not acting quickly enough and of not ensuring that the aid gets to those who need it most.

Less than half the $81m (GBP 45m) called for by the UN has been pledged by international donors, the organisation says.

Full story at BBC Aug 24. 2005.

Patriarchy in Niger - The men take control

From British blogger Mick Hartley:

The men take control.

Mainstream media and bloggers write about food aid to Niger

In his post about mainstream media, blogs and Niger, British blogger Tim Worstall points to an interesting blog entry at Owen's musings on Niger, markets and famine.

Tags: Niger famine food crisis Africa drought

Niger way of life 'under threat'

A report from BBC today says Niger's way of life is under threat if Niger's nomads to not get long-term help to rebuild their herds and livelihoods.

"For Niger's nomads, the situation is desperate. To these people, losing your animals is like losing your life savings. Without their animals, they have no means of survival," said Natasha Kofoworola Quist, Oxfam's Regional Director for West Africa.

"Twelve centuries of nomadic culture are threatened with extinction if these people do not get long-term help to rebuild their livelihoods," she added.

The food shortages were caused by an early end to last year's rainy season, locusts and chronic long-term poverty in Niger, the second poorest country in the world.

"Food aid alone will not solve this crisis. For nomads who have lost all or most of their animals, the harvest will make little difference," said Ms Kofoworola Quist.

[Someone has just emailed me saying: "As I said before: 'Too many people in the wrong place'. This planet doesn't give a damn about 'twelve centuries'."]

Tags: Niger famine food crisis Africa drought

West Africa hunger map - Africa hunger 'likely to worsen'

Niger, Mali, Mauritania and Burkina Faso have also been badly affected by food shortages.

Click here for information at BBC news online on the situation in each country.

British blogger Keith asks: What will you do?
- - -

Africa hunger 'likely to worsen'

BBC report August 11, 2005:

The number of malnourished people in sub-Saharan Africa has soared from 88 million in 1970 to 200 million in 1999-2001, the research found.

The overall percentage of malnourished Africans has actually remained constant over the past 30 years, at about 35%.

Absolute numbers have gone up due to Africa's population growth.

The report by the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) predicts that the Millennium Development goal to halve child malnutrition in Africa by 2015 will fail unless more radical steps are taken now.

It says the number of malnourished children could grow from 38.6 million now to 41.9 million by 2025.

Indirect causes of malnutrition include poor governance, lack of investment in agriculture, inadequate infrastructure and limited access to markets.

Building roads and boosting the information and communication technology sectors would have a positive impact, too, because it would improve productivity and create new markets, the report says.

In order to reach the target of halving hunger by 2015, at least $303bn must be invested - a prospect the report describes as "daunting".

"When the United Nations' member countries meet on 14 September, they have the opportunity to make good on the promises made five years ago," said Mark Rosegrant, the lead author of the report.

"If they are serious [about fulfilling their promises], they need to accelerate the pace of change in Africa."

Tags: Niger famine food crisis Africa drought

Food crisis 'runs across Africa'

A report today by the BBC says with attention on food shortages in Niger, aid agencies say a vast hunger belt is stretching across Africa.

People across Africa are affected, from Niger in central Africa to Somalia on the Indian Ocean seaboard.

Latest reports from the Famine Early Warning Systems Network say over 20m people are at risk from food shortages.

The Famine Early Warning network, made up of a variety of aid agencies including the aid arm of the US government, USAid, says no fewer than seven African states are facing food emergencies.

These are mostly on the fringes of the Sahara desert and stretch from Niger, through Chad and Sudan, to Ethiopia, Eritrea and Somalia.

Tags: Niger famine food crisis Africa drought

Photographs of Niger - Trickle Up Program: Alleviating poverty one business at a time

Guardian photographer Dan Chung travelled to Niger with reporter Jeevan Vasagar to report on the country's food crisis. See Dan Chung's photographs of Niger, a selection of images from their visit.
- - -

Trickle Up Program: Alleviating poverty one business at a time

Excerpt from Paul Staines' post at the Globalization Institute blog August 7, 2005 on the Trickle Up Program:

Alleviating poverty one business at a time -

Jobs, profits and opportunities for growth depend on individual enterprise and an economic climate that supports growth through trade.

Founded in 1979, the mission of Trickle Up is to help the lowest income people worldwide take the first steps up out of poverty, by providing conditional seed capital, business training and relevant support services essential to the launch or expansion of a microenterprise. This proven social and economic empowerment model is implemented in partnership with local agencies.

Trickle Up has supported over 130,000 businesses in more than 120 countries. Currently, Trickle Up is focusing its efforts in fourteen core countries. These countries are Bolivia, Burkina Faso, Cambodia, Ethiopia, Guatemala, Haiti, Honduras, India, Mali, Nepal, Nicaragua, Niger, and Uganda and the United States.

- - -

Snippets from bloggers on food crisis in Niger

Aug 7 - Famine in Niger post by Padraig O' Beaglaoich , a 26 year old Youth & Community Worker in Galway, Connacht, Ireland:

Following a severe drought and a plague of locusts, over 5 million people face imminent starvation in Niger as I write.

July 31 - Bill's Big Diamond Blog features a post on Rove entitled "Perjury, He Spoke":

BEFORE Joe Wilson wrote his Op Ed piece on Niger in July, 2003, Walter Pincus of the Washington Post inquired about the “unnamed former diplomat” who had gone to Niger and come back with a negative report on the yellowcake uranium story.

According to Massimo Calabresi at Time, this is what set off the White House into circling the wagons and looking for ways to discredit the Pincus report, now known to be true, that the Niger deal with Iraq for WMD had never gone down.

Tags: Niger Trickle up

Niger: Famine or no famine?

Note Famine or no famine? by British blogger Keith at under the acacias blog.

Keith says, in strict definition at least, President Tanja of Niger is correct. Please read the full post.

Tags: Niger

Niger president says there is no famine in Niger

What is really going in Niger? A BBC report today quotes Niger president Tanja as saying the current food crisis did not amount to a famine. Excerpt:

"We are experiencing like all the countries in the Sahel a food crisis due to the poor harvest and the locust attacks of 2004," Mr Tanja said.

"There is no famine in Niger," he said. "All those who are saying there is a famine either have political motivations or an economic interest.

He said if it were a real famine, shanty towns would form around the big towns, people would flee to neighbouring countries and street beggars would become more prevalent. Mr Tanja said this had not happened.

He said of the $45m promised to Niger in aid to help it deal with the food crisis, only $2.5m had been received by his government.

Also, the report says UN estimates that up to three million of Niger's 12 million population are suffering food shortages and 32,000 children with severe malnutrition are facing death without the necessary food and medical treatment.

Niger: British Red Cross aid worker's diary

Mark Snelling is a member of the British Red Cross Society's Emergence Response Unit in Niger.

See his diary at the BBC News website.

Niger: "Why didn't help get there sooner?"

Following on from previous posts below, note this excerpt from a post on Famine in Niger at the Salmon blog July 31, 2005:

"As for the bigger picture, listen to Marc Snelling, a member of the British Red Cross Society's Emergency Response Unit, as he responds to the question "Why didn't help get there sooner?"

"There is no single easy answer.

One could say that government and UN strategies didn't work as well as they might have done; international donors were slow to respond despite aid agency warnings; it is also the case that it was hard to assess that a chronically deficient food situation was turning acute.

Of one thing I'm certain. It's easy to say that we should 'Make Poverty History'. It sounds good.

But there are huge changes that need to be made on every level - political, economic and humanitarian - before that can happen.

For the time being, though, this is an emergency that we and many others are responding to, right here and right now. The wider questions will have to wait."

We've talked about the wider questions in the past, and we'll continue the discussion in the weeks to come. But for now, if you'd like to find out more about Niger or if you'd like to donate to organizations that are at work in Niger, here are a few links."

[Hello Salmon blog: thanks for linking to Niger Watch. Over the past year, I have posted on the wider questions and look forward to following your discussions in the weeks to come.]

Tags: Niger British Red Cross Salmon UN reform famine hunger season malnutrition Make Poverty History Joe Trippi Live 8

Drought-Ravaged Niger: The 'Hunger Season' - Some weakened kids are 'letting themselves die

If only Newsweek and journalists like Eric Pape could read yesterday's post here below, they might report the fact that emergency aid does not come cheap when it is flown in at the last minute and by not coming in time, it costs countless lives and unimagineable suffering.

Newsweek August 15, 2005 features an article on Niger by Eric Pape. Note this excerpt:

At the latest count, 160,000 children in Niger were still suffering from serious malnutrition, and the lives of 32,000 were at immediate risk.

August is always a hard time in Niger. They call it the hunger season - when all the grain has been eaten and the autumn harvest has not begun. This year, food ran short months ago. Relief groups have been warning of an impending famine since last October, but their pleas went mostly unheard, especially after the South Asian tsunami in December. The delay's consequences were visible last week all around Maradi, a town of perhaps 150,000 inhabitants in the southern grasslands. Doctors and aid workers at the Center for Muslims of Africa couldn't handle all those seeking food for their children. Overflow crowds blocked the entrances, banging on the metal gates and howling to get in.

Also, Eric Pape writes:

Can Niger's next crisis be prevented? Nearly a quarter of the country's 12 million or so people have no money for food when crops fail. What they need, development experts say, are modern farm tools, irrigation equipment and seed to raise crops that are more productive, more diverse and drought-resistant. Emergency aid isn't cheap - and it never comes in time to save all the children.

Links and reports in Newsweek's sidebar:

An article in Newsweek Augusut 5, 2005 entitled "Crisis in Niger" says a perfect storm of negatives has led to a food crisis for millions. Excerpt:

It was a crisis-in-the-making that should have been averted, says Mark Malloch Brown, chief of staff to the U.N. secretary-general. "What is happening was largely foreseeable as early as November," he says.

But despite appeals for donations then, the Asian tsunami and then the violence-plagued famine in the Darfur region of Sudan diverted attention from Niger.

"We do find it hard to deal with more than one crisis," says Malloch Brown.

In fact, it wasn't until British television aired reports last month that Niger was seen as a place in desperate need. Now, a crisis that could have been treated last year for about a dollar for each person in need will now cost eight times that much, and perhaps thousands of lives.

Also, the article quotes an aid worker:

In a country that's not at war and has no problems of access, people are hungry to the point of death because help simply didn't get there quickly.

"It's one of the easier countries [to help]. It's one of the countries that we shouldn't have let slip," says Dominic MacSorley, a veteran aid worker with Concern Worldwide.

Photo: A woman who received goods from a U.N. food program smiles as she walks home in the small town of Tsaki, Niger, on Tuesday. (Schalk Van Zuydam/AP courtesy Newsweek)

Related stories at Newsweek:

August 4, 2005 - Niger's children most at risk video: Of Niger's 12 million people, more than a fourth are at risk for extreme hunger and malnutrition, the United Nations says, with children especially vulnerable. Geraint Vincent of Britain's ITN reports.



August 8, 2005 "Africa: Crisis in Niger & Sudan" Dan Toole, Director, Office of Emergency Programs, UNICEF and Suliman Baldo, Program Director for Africa, International Crisis Group. Click here for audio clip, complete show, podcast.

August 5, 2005 (Associated Press) U.N. issues urgent appeal for Niger: Hunger caused by drought, locusts threatens hundreds of thousands.

July 30, 2005 (Reuters) Famine alert U.N. urges help for Niger: Health agency says dramatic increase in disease is possible.

Millions in Niger face starvation despite well-stocked markets, over half of nation survives on $1 per day

Blog Talk - Read here what bloggers are saying about this Newsweek article "Drought-Ravaged Niger: The 'Hunger Season'" right now.
- - -

African musicians to raise money for Niger hunger

August 5, 2005 via MSNBC.com NIAMEY (Reuters):

A host of African musicians will stage a concert to raise money to fight a hunger crisis in Niger on Saturday, where an estimated 3.6 million people are facing food shortages, the culture ministry said.

Among the artists expected to perform in the main 30,000 capacity stadium in the capital Niamey will be Ivorian singers Dj Christy B, TV5 Fouka Fouka and Kilabongo and Nigerien groups Kaydan Gaskiya, Queen ZM and Kamikaze

Tags: Niger Newsweek Eric Pape journalists UN famine hunger season malnutrition Center for Muslims of Africa Maradi

John Bolton

Hopefully, John Bolton will give the UN's World Food Programme a shake up to help prevent another disaster like what happened in Darfur and Niger.



AP report and cartoons via Cox & Forkum Aug 1, 2005:

Bush Appoints Bolton, Bypassing Senate

President Bush sidestepped the Senate and installed embattled nominee John Bolton as ambassador to the United Nations on Monday, ending a five-month impasse with Democrats who accused Bolton of abusing subordinates and twisting intelligence to fit his conservative ideology.

"This post is too important to leave vacant any longer, especially during a war and a vital debate about U.N. reform," Bush said. He said Bolton had his complete confidence.



Tags: Niger Democrats Bush Senate UN Bolton John Bolton

Now we know part of the answer to: Why starving in Niger?

Huge thanks to Tim Worstall for pointing out the following post by Aunty Marianne in Brussels, Belgium who, in her blog Tomato And Basil Sandwiches describes her occupation in 'government' as 'spending your money on humanitarian aid'.

Here is the post, copied in full, just incase Aunty Marianne decides for one reason or another to delete it, as it helps answer my question Why starving in Niger?

Saturday, August 06, 2005
OK, I'm fed up and others aren't

I am fed up to the back teeth with this whingeing about donors not reacting on the Niger famine. The EU have been actively looking for aid partners to spend 4.6 million euros since April. The reason why people are starving in Niger now, in August, is because some of those who asked for it to be made available for their feeding projects didn't get their proposals for actual projects in before early July. I also know for a fact that one of the organisations has a massive "emergency reserve" lying in wait for the famine almost certainly about to happen in a certain southern African country, a reserve that could have easily been tapped and replenished. They did not need to wait for donor funds to react.

We've had to release another 1.7m euros now that IMHO we wouldn't have had to, had they taken the first lot in time, because now, for example, therapeutic milk has to be airfreighted in instead of sea/road-shipped, and that's more expensive than the milk itself.

I am disgusted with the blamestorming around this famine, especially when the primary culprits are the ones pointing the finger, I'm disgusted at the waste of time and therefore money and all the additional suffering that it has caused to should-be-beneficiaries, and I wish the reputable media would check their facts better before blindly repeating press releases.

As always, this is just my personal view of things, and in no way necessarily represents the position of my employers.
posted by Aunty Marianne @ 10:59 AM
- - -

[My first reaction to Aunty Marianne's post was disgust but not surprise because of what happened in Darfur last year when the UN and its World Food Programme admitted they acted too slowly and had to resort to costly air drops despite the long predicted rainy season. There is something terribly wrong with emergency aid responses and the way they are funded and reported.

A week or so ago I saw a top British politician (Hilary Benn I think) interviewed on UK television news. It may have been a Channel 4 News interview by Jon Snow who asked point blank why the long predicted food crisis in Niger was not responded to. The politician concluded by saying the "system" was not perfect and needed overhauling.

I say, once again, there is no accountability. Whoever is responsible for this scandal, not to mention the outrageous waste of precious public funds, is getting away with murder. Sorry for putting it so strongly but it is sickening to know the money for emergency food aid is there but the people entrusted by the public don't respond in time and then blame donors for not paying up. Of course, it then creates more publicity and an outcry which generates more funds before the food aid has even been delivered. Meanwhile, people starve to death and suffer unimagineable pain, grief and misery and the excuse all because the "system" needs overhauling. If heads rolled over this, the nameless "system" might get overhauled sooner.]

Previous posts:

Aug 2, 2005 - Could the Crisis in Niger Have Been Avoided?

Aug 2, 2005 - BBC's Hilary Andersson reporting on Niger

Tags: Niger West Africa drought famine Burkina Faso Mali Mauritania food crisis incompetence scandal mainstream+media EU therapeutic milk humanitarian aid New York Times BBC Hilary Andersson Hilary Benn Jon Snow Channel 4 Darfur

Niger's Anguish Is Reflected in Its Dying Children

By MICHAEL WINES
The New York Times

One child in five is dying - the result of a belated response by the outside world to a food crisis predicted nine months ago.

Tags: Niger Africa drought famine New York Times food crisis

West African Food Crisis

Please read Keith's important post on the West African Food Crisis highlighting the fact that although Niger has been the worst hit so far, and has had the most attention, Burkina Faso, Mali and Mauritania are also badly affected.

Tags: Niger West Africa drought famine Burkina Faso Mali Mauritania food crisis

Mauritania officers 'seize power' - Overthrown President Taya has arrived in Niger

Mauritanian army officers have announced the overthrow of the country's president and creation of a military council to rule the country.

The council said it had ended the "totalitarian regime" of Maaouiya Ould Sid Ahmed Taya. President Taya, attending the funeral of Saudi Arabia's King Fahd at the time, was flown to Niger's capital, Niamey.

It named security chief Col Ely Ould Mohammed Vall as the new leader.

The national armed forces and security forces have unanimously decided to put a definitive end to the oppressive activities of the defunct authority Officers' statement.

The new Military Council for Justice and Democracy said it would rule the West African state for a transitional period of two years, after which it would organise free and fair elections.

President Taya took power in a bloodless coup in December 1984 and has been re-elected three times since.

Correspondents say he later made enemies among Islamists in the country, which is an Islamic republic.

MAURITANIA

Dominated by light-skinned Arabic-speakers (Moors)
Black Africans complain of discrimination
Mostly desert
Islamic republic
Recognises Israel
Mauritania is deeply divided between three main groups - light-skinned Arabic-speakers, descendents of slaves and dark-skinned speakers of West African languages.

Source: BBC news online. See today's report that provides links to:

Army coup: Full statement
Q&A: Power struggles

Excerpts from the report:

There were street celebrations in the capital, Nouakchott, as troops controlled key points. African and world bodies condemned the action.

The African Union said it "strongly condemns any seizure of power or any attempt to take power by force".

UN Secretary General Kofi Annan was "deeply troubled" by the reports, insisting political disagreements should be settled peacefully and democratically, a spokesman said.

Note, the report quotes President Olusegun Obasanjo of regional powerhouse Nigeria as saying "the days of tolerating military governance in our sub-region or anywhere" were "long gone".

[Eh? What about all the rebels groups fighting for power in countries like Uganda, DR Congo and the regime in the Sudan? The Islamic regime in Khartoum stole power through a coup. And what about the Southern Sudan rebel group SPLM's 21 year war to take control of South Sudan? And the Darfur rebel groups SLA and JEM fighting to take control of Darfur? My understanding is none were democratically elected. They all appear to be fighting for power using the barrel of a gun. African politics sure are confusing.]
- - -

UPDATE: AU punishes Mauritania over coup

Via BBC Aug 5, 2005:

The African Union (AU) has suspended Mauritania's membership in protest at the coup there on Wednesday, saying it must restore "constitutional order".

Ministers will travel to the capital, Nouakchott, to inform the coup leaders officially of the AU's position.

Under AU rules, a country is automatically suspended if it brings about unconstitutional changes.
- - -

The Arabization of Mauritania

Update Aug 6 - the crossfader writes this:

From Business Day (Jo'berg):

For the past two decades ethnic black Mauritanians have been systematically driven from the country's southern region by an Arab-led government vying to take control of the fertile lands of the southern valley.

More than 120000 "Negro-Mauritanians" have been deported to neighbouring Mali and Senegal, and forced to live in squalid refugee camps unnoticed by the international community, says Abdarahmane Wone, communications director for North America of the African Liberation Forces of Mauritania.

Overseeing the brutal campaign is President Maaouya Ould Sid'Hamed Taya, who has been in power for about 22 years.

We can add this to the list of things that will not receive attention this millennium.

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

Could the Crisis in Niger Have Been Avoided?

Sorry, still unable to post original commentary here right now. Just wanted to log these initial news reports on Niger. Everyone seems to be asking the questions that ought to have been asked last year about Darfur.

Note the following copy of a press release from World Vision via PR Newswire Aug 2, 2005 entitled Could the Crisis in Niger Have Been Avoided?:

- The United Nations issued warnings last November, but other more immediate crises diverted donors' attention.
- "Niger is a good example of a hidden emergency that could have been prevented." - Jules Frost, World Vision

As images of starving children in the African nation of Niger appear in the news media, the world is witnessing a harsh reminder of the cost of ignoring an emerging famine. Those responding to the crisis are asking, "Was the crisis in Niger inevitable?"

"The crisis in Niger is a good example of a hidden emergency that could have been prevented," says Jules Frost, World Vision's Director for Emergency Response. "After the locust invasion and the drought wiped out the crops last year, it was easy to predict the food emergency we have in Niger today. The warnings were sounded, but unfortunately the world's attention was on the immediate crisis of the day."

Frost noted that Niger's leaders, along with the United Nations and other humanitarian agencies government, in cooperation with international relief agencies, issued warnings last November. However, other, more immediate crises, such as Darfur in Sudan and later in December and January, the Asian tsunami, diverted the attention of private and public donors, as well as the news media.

According to the United Nations, of the $16 million the U.N. requested for Niger food aid several months ago, less than a third had been received until about 10 days ago -- when the first stories of the crisis images began appearing in the media.

"Now we are watching the images of starving children on television, and for many of those children, it is too late," Frost says. "But it is not too late to save countless others."

About 2.5 million people in Niger -- or 20 percent of the population -- urgently need food assistance, the U.N. says. One in five children is severely malnourished.

World Vision has been working in areas where about 400,000 people are at risk of starvation, Frost says. The organization is expanding nutritional feeding centers and distributing emergency food rations, in addition to providing health services in some areas, particularly in the hard-hit regions of Maradi and Zinder.

The Christian humanitarian agency also is working with local communities to address the root causes of Niger's crisis through the provision of clean water, healthcare, diversified agriculture, and education.

Frost notes that people in Ethiopia, Zimbabwe, and Sudan, as well as other nations, also are experiencing rapidly increasing malnutrition rates and that now is the time to invest to prevent famines elsewhere across the continent.

World Vision is a Christian relief and development organization dedicated to helping children and their communities worldwide reach their full potential by tackling the causes of poverty. The agency serves the world's poor, regardless of a person's religion, race, ethnicity, or gender.

Source: World Vision

Tags: Niger Africa World Vision

BBC's Hilary Andersson reporting on Niger

Today, BBC NEWS online says "many of you have asked about the BBC's coverage of Niger. How did news crews hear about the crisis and has the resulting footage helped? Hilary Andersson reports on her assignment and what it achieved."

Read all about it at "Reporting the crisis in Niger".
- - -

What bloggers are saying

Excellent in depth post on Famine in Niger from the Salmon.

Aldon Hynes at John DeStefano for Connecticut Governor blog links to a CNN article about the drought and famine in Niger.

Tags: Hilary Andersson Niger BBC Africa John DeStefano CNN

Sudanese VP Dr John Garang DeMabior, 13 Others Die in Plane Crash

See news on the tragic death of Dr Garang at Sudan Watch: Sudan's first VP and former rebel leader killed.

Tags: Garang Niger Darfur Africa