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
Friday, August 05, 2005
Thursday, August 04, 2005
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
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:
[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.
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.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".
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.
[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.
Tuesday, August 02, 2005
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
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
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
Monday, August 01, 2005
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
Tags: Garang Niger Darfur Africa
Sunday, July 31, 2005
Spiegel interview with African economics expert James Shikwati: "For God's Sake, Please Stop the Aid!"
Not sure what to think about Der Spiegel Interview July 4, 2005 with African Economics Expert: 'For God's Sake, Please Stop the Aid!'
The Kenyan economics expert James Shikwati, 35, says that aid to Africa does more harm than good. The avid proponent of globalization spoke with SPIEGEL about the disastrous effects of Western development policy in Africa, corrupt rulers, and the tendency to overstate the AIDS problem.
[via INCITE: Aid to Africa: Please Stop - with thanks]
The Kenyan economics expert James Shikwati, 35, says that aid to Africa does more harm than good. The avid proponent of globalization spoke with SPIEGEL about the disastrous effects of Western development policy in Africa, corrupt rulers, and the tendency to overstate the AIDS problem.
[via INCITE: Aid to Africa: Please Stop - with thanks]
Saturday, July 30, 2005
Niger's people living on the edge
Drought and plagues of locusts have caused severe food shortages in Niger, one of the poorest countries in the world. Aid agencies have warned that 3.6 million people could be affected. Visiting Niger, BBC correspondent David Loyn reflects on whether part of the blame could lie with the foreign policy of other countries."
Read full story Niger's people living on the edge.
Tags: Niger Africa
Read full story Niger's people living on the edge.
Tags: Niger Africa
Niger worse than Darfur - An aid worker's Niger diary
See Channel 4 News special report: Niger 'worse than Darfur'
- - -
An aid worker's Niger diary: Arriving on the ground
Mark Snelling is a member of the British Red Cross Society's Emergency Response Unit in Niger. He has been keeping a diary for the BBC News website.
Excerpt from Niger diary I:
Via BBC - Aid reaches Niger relief centres:
Aid has begun reaching feeding centres for the 2.5m people estimated to be facing famine in Niger and distribution is due to begin in earnest next week.
Most supplies are being brought in overland but more than 40 metric tons of emergency UN food aid has arrived by air from Italy and more is due.
France, the former colonial power, is to triple food aid and UK charities have appealed for fresh donations.
Actual distribution of the aid is not due to start until next week.
- - -
UK appeals for donations
From BBC News online 30 July 2005 Disaster group makes Niger appeal:
- - -
An aid worker's Niger diary: Arriving on the ground
Mark Snelling is a member of the British Red Cross Society's Emergency Response Unit in Niger. He has been keeping a diary for the BBC News website.
Excerpt from Niger diary I:
"Calls start pouring in from international media. Interviews range from the supportive to the slightly hostile.- - -
'Why didn't the help get there sooner?' asks one journalist. 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."
Via BBC - Aid reaches Niger relief centres:
Aid has begun reaching feeding centres for the 2.5m people estimated to be facing famine in Niger and distribution is due to begin in earnest next week.
Most supplies are being brought in overland but more than 40 metric tons of emergency UN food aid has arrived by air from Italy and more is due.
France, the former colonial power, is to triple food aid and UK charities have appealed for fresh donations.
Actual distribution of the aid is not due to start until next week.
- - -
UK appeals for donations
From BBC News online 30 July 2005 Disaster group makes Niger appeal:
"Eleven of the UK's leading charities have launched an appeal to help more than two million people facing starvation in drought-hit Niger.Tags: Niger Africa
The Disasters Emergency Committee (DEC) raised GBP 300m in the aftermath of the Asian tsunami on Boxing Day.
Now its Niger Crisis Appeal is open for phone and online donations, with a TV and radio campaign to come next week.
DEC chief executive Brendan Gormley said it was hoped the campaign could raise around GBP 10m pounds.
'We are a service for the British public to know how to get their concerns turned into action on the ground,' he told BBC Radio 4's Today programme."
Wednesday, July 27, 2005
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.
Yes, it's True, There are Slaves in Niger...
Read all about it at African Bullets & Honey.
Also, see On Safari with El Jorgito: Smile and the World Starves with You.
[Via Paul Frankenstein at Global Voices - with thanks]
Tags: Niger Africa slaves slavery Paul Frankenstein Global Voices African Bullets and Honey
Also, see On Safari with El Jorgito: Smile and the World Starves with You.
[Via Paul Frankenstein at Global Voices - with thanks]
Tags: Niger Africa slaves slavery Paul Frankenstein Global Voices African Bullets and Honey
Tuesday, July 26, 2005
Niger neighbours also face hunger
The food crisis in Niger, which had been predicted for almost a year, also threatens three other countries in the region - Mali, Burkina Faso and Mauritania, the United Nations has warned.
At least 2.5m people in the three countries need food aid and like Niger they were hit by drought and a plague of locusts last year.
Full Story at BBC News online 26 July, 2005.
Tags: Niger Africa Mali UN starvation West Africa famine drought Mauritania Burkina Faso locusts BBC
At least 2.5m people in the three countries need food aid and like Niger they were hit by drought and a plague of locusts last year.
Full Story at BBC News online 26 July, 2005.
Tags: Niger Africa Mali UN starvation West Africa famine drought Mauritania Burkina Faso locusts BBC
Monday, July 25, 2005
British aid flight reaches Niger - Hundreds of thousands of children could die in the famine
Today, BBC NEWS UK confirms a flight carrying British aid has arrived in Niger, west Africa, where millions face starvation after drought and a plague of locusts. Oxfam's Natasha Kafoworola Quist is quoted as saying families are feeding their children grass and leaves from the trees to keep them alive says. Excerpt from the report:
A British Red Cross team will distribute food, seeds, medical equipment and other essential items.
The Red Cross said up to 2.5m people urgently needed food, and one in 10 children could die unless helped.
It is trying to raise £8m worldwide. The UK government has announced a total contribution of £3m.
Miranda Bradley, part of the Red Cross team, said the crisis could be the worst famine in Africa for more than a decade.
Team leader Peter Pierce said: "Our main function will be to receive, store and forward on all the relief items that will be arriving.
"It's difficult to know what to expect and we will undoubtedly face challenges but it is vital that we transport everything off the planes and to people in need as fast as possible."
The charity launched an appeal after the drought and plague of locusts left eight million facing famine in Niger, Mali, Mauritania and Burkina Faso.
The Red Cross appeal, launched on Friday, aims to raise £8m globally, with £500,000 coming from Britain.
They will transport vehicles and technical equipment so that they can distribute aid once it arrives.
Ms Bradley, 31, said the logistics of taking food across Niger could be difficult because it is the wet season.
"We are there to set up the tracking and communication systems so we can distribute the aid, which will mainly be food around the country," she said.
Oxfam has also launched a £1.4m appeal to help 130,000 people in Niger with a food voucher scheme.
Natasha Kafoworola Quist, the charity's regional director for West Africa, said the lack of food had pushed prices beyond the means of most families.
"Families are feeding their children grass and leaves from the trees to keep them alive," she said.
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, Jan Egeland said.
He added: "It took the images of children dying to make the world wake up. We should not have had so many children dying in Niger."
The UN's Office for the Co-ordination of Humanitarian Affairs said £1.6m was donated last week, bringing the total to $2.2m.
The amount is still a fraction of the £17.6m it wants to help the starving in Niger, where aid workers say a quarter of the 12m population need aid.
A second aid flight from the UK is due to leave for Niger on Wednesday.
Tags: Niger Africa Mali Oxfam Red Cross aid workers UN starvation West Africa famine drought Mauritania Burkina Faso locusts BBC
A British Red Cross team will distribute food, seeds, medical equipment and other essential items.
The Red Cross said up to 2.5m people urgently needed food, and one in 10 children could die unless helped.
It is trying to raise £8m worldwide. The UK government has announced a total contribution of £3m.
Miranda Bradley, part of the Red Cross team, said the crisis could be the worst famine in Africa for more than a decade.
Team leader Peter Pierce said: "Our main function will be to receive, store and forward on all the relief items that will be arriving.
"It's difficult to know what to expect and we will undoubtedly face challenges but it is vital that we transport everything off the planes and to people in need as fast as possible."
The charity launched an appeal after the drought and plague of locusts left eight million facing famine in Niger, Mali, Mauritania and Burkina Faso.
The Red Cross appeal, launched on Friday, aims to raise £8m globally, with £500,000 coming from Britain.
They will transport vehicles and technical equipment so that they can distribute aid once it arrives.
Ms Bradley, 31, said the logistics of taking food across Niger could be difficult because it is the wet season.
"We are there to set up the tracking and communication systems so we can distribute the aid, which will mainly be food around the country," she said.
Oxfam has also launched a £1.4m appeal to help 130,000 people in Niger with a food voucher scheme.
Natasha Kafoworola Quist, the charity's regional director for West Africa, said the lack of food had pushed prices beyond the means of most families.
"Families are feeding their children grass and leaves from the trees to keep them alive," she said.
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, Jan Egeland said.
He added: "It took the images of children dying to make the world wake up. We should not have had so many children dying in Niger."
The UN's Office for the Co-ordination of Humanitarian Affairs said £1.6m was donated last week, bringing the total to $2.2m.
The amount is still a fraction of the £17.6m it wants to help the starving in Niger, where aid workers say a quarter of the 12m population need aid.
A second aid flight from the UK is due to leave for Niger on Wednesday.
Tags: Niger Africa Mali Oxfam Red Cross aid workers UN starvation West Africa famine drought Mauritania Burkina Faso locusts BBC
Saturday, July 23, 2005
Niger: Another African Disaster in the Making?
Thanks to Imnakoya at Grandiose Parlor blog for picking up on my post at Sudan Watch about the 150,000 children facing starvation in Niger.
Imnakoya is a Nigerian chap living in St Paul Minnesota. His insightful post entitled "Niger: Another African Disaster in the Making?" makes this suggestion:
Photo: L-R: Congo President Dennis Sassou Nguesso, Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo and Niger President Maamodou Tandja attend the Donors' Conference for the Resuscitation and Sustainable Development of the Chad Basin. (AFP/Alexander Joe June 30, 2005)
Photo: A young infant suffering from severe malnutrition is treated at the Medecins Sans Frontieres center in Maradi. Niger is on the brink of a full-scale malnutrition crisis that threatens at least one quarter of its 12 million people.(AFP/Issouf Sanogo July 22, 2005)
Photo: Rural women who have carried their malnourished children for days across the Sahel desert in search of food rush into an emergency feeding center in the town of Guidan Roumdji, southern Niger, July 1, 2005. On a continent where a man's worth is often measured by his cattle, rivalry for the beasts and the degraded land they graze on is sparking lethal conflicts across Africa. Observers say the violence is rooted in increasingly parched soil which has been battered by overgrazing, erosion, population growth and global warming, exacerbating struggles among human communities with ancient and blood-stained histories. Photo by Finbarr O'reilly/Reuters July 22, 2005)
Photo: A picture taken July 1, 2005 shows the cereal market in the southwestern Niger town of Tahoua. Hundreds of peasant farmers are fleeing into northern Nigeria to escape a drought in the neighbouring west African desert state of Niger, officials said, warning that many would be turned back.(AFP/File/Natasha Burley July 4, 2005)
Photo: King Mohammed VI of Morocco (C) visits a makeshift hospital set up by the Moroccan Army to assist families in need of food aid in northeast Niger. UN relief coordinator Jan Egeland appealed for millions of dollars in aid from donors to tackle an 'acute humanitarian crisis' in the west African state of Niger where 2.5 million people, including 800,000 children, are facing famine (AFP July 21, 2005)
Tags: Niger Africa Morocco Obasanjo food aid aid workers UN starvation West Africa Joe Trippi Cereal Market Doctors Without Borders famine Grandiose Parlor NGO Northern Nigeria MSF
Imnakoya is a Nigerian chap living in St Paul Minnesota. His insightful post entitled "Niger: Another African Disaster in the Making?" makes this suggestion:
For Starters...during a period of national catastrophe as this, it is morally wrong for any Niger national to eat three meals a day. How about donating at least one meal, or the equivalent, to the hungry? How about using a proportion of high-ranking government officials' salaries in buying food for the needy? How about President Mamadou Tanja of Niger yielding his african robe, cap, and his comfortable official mansion for the time being, and relocate to the feeding camps to help coordinate charity work? How about...African leaders striving to serve their people and not relying on foreign aids all the time?I would like to expand on Imnakoya's last sentence by saying:
How about African people exhorting African leaders to strive to serve their people and not rely on foreign aid all the time?
Photo: L-R: Congo President Dennis Sassou Nguesso, Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo and Niger President Maamodou Tandja attend the Donors' Conference for the Resuscitation and Sustainable Development of the Chad Basin. (AFP/Alexander Joe June 30, 2005)
Photo: A young infant suffering from severe malnutrition is treated at the Medecins Sans Frontieres center in Maradi. Niger is on the brink of a full-scale malnutrition crisis that threatens at least one quarter of its 12 million people.(AFP/Issouf Sanogo July 22, 2005)
Photo: Rural women who have carried their malnourished children for days across the Sahel desert in search of food rush into an emergency feeding center in the town of Guidan Roumdji, southern Niger, July 1, 2005. On a continent where a man's worth is often measured by his cattle, rivalry for the beasts and the degraded land they graze on is sparking lethal conflicts across Africa. Observers say the violence is rooted in increasingly parched soil which has been battered by overgrazing, erosion, population growth and global warming, exacerbating struggles among human communities with ancient and blood-stained histories. Photo by Finbarr O'reilly/Reuters July 22, 2005)
Photo: A picture taken July 1, 2005 shows the cereal market in the southwestern Niger town of Tahoua. Hundreds of peasant farmers are fleeing into northern Nigeria to escape a drought in the neighbouring west African desert state of Niger, officials said, warning that many would be turned back.(AFP/File/Natasha Burley July 4, 2005)
Photo: King Mohammed VI of Morocco (C) visits a makeshift hospital set up by the Moroccan Army to assist families in need of food aid in northeast Niger. UN relief coordinator Jan Egeland appealed for millions of dollars in aid from donors to tackle an 'acute humanitarian crisis' in the west African state of Niger where 2.5 million people, including 800,000 children, are facing famine (AFP July 21, 2005)
Tags: Niger Africa Morocco Obasanjo food aid aid workers UN starvation West Africa Joe Trippi Cereal Market Doctors Without Borders famine Grandiose Parlor NGO Northern Nigeria MSF
Niger: Government refuses to distribute free food - 3m people need food aid - 150,000 children face starvation - French aid starts arriving
22 July 2005 BBC report says aid from France is arriving in Niger. More food is expected to be flown in by the UN's World Food Programme over the weekend.
Note, the report says the food crisis had been predicted for almost a year and the Niger government has sought to downplay the scale of the crisis, refusing demands to distribute free food, and aid workers in Niger say that up to a quarter of the country's 12 million people need food aid. Excerpt:
A plane carrying food aid has landed in Niger, where some 150,000 children are said to be facing starvation.
However, the BBC's Hilary Andersson in southern Niger says the 16 tons of aid is a "drop in the ocean".
Some 23,000 tons of food are needed for more than 2.5m people, the UN says. The food crisis follows poor rains and locust invasions last year.
Children are dying every day and many are too sick to make it to the few feeding centres which have been set up.
The plane carrying oil, sugar and Plumpynut - a highly nutritious paste for young children - was sent by French aid agency Reunir.
Photo: An employee at Marseille-Proovence airport looks over crates filled with 18 tons of food supplies bound for Niger. After months of desperate appeals, Niger began receiving shipments of emergency food aid from western development partners. (AFP/Patrick Valasseris July 22, 2005)
Another airlift is expected over the weekend, containing 40 tons of millet and 28 tons of oil, says the UN's World Food Programme.
In a single feeding centre, about 20 children out of 100 children have died in the past few weeks, our correspondent says.
Photo: A worker with the medical charity Medecins Sans Frontiers (MSF) registers the names of malnourished children at a feeding centre in the town of Guidan Roumdji in southern Niger June 30, 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)
The charity Oxfam said families were feeding their children grass and leaves from trees to keep them alive.
Photo: Swiss Jean Ziegler, UN special rapporteur of the commission on human rights on the right to food, shows a plant called Anza, a bitter fruit people in Niger are obliged to eat because of severe food shortage, as he speaks about the food situation in Niger after returning from a mission in the central African country, at the United Nations in Geneva, Switzerland, Tuesday, July 13, 2005. (AP Photo/Keystone, Martial Trezzini July 13, 2005)
The UN under-secretary general for humanitarian affairs, Jan Egeland, on Wednesday accused the international community of reacting slowly to the crisis in Niger.
The crisis was widely predicted after last year's poor harvests but initial food appeals went largely unheeded.
The Niger government has also sought to downplay the scale of the crisis, refusing demands to distribute free food.
"The world wakes up when we see images on the TV and when we see children dying," Mr Egeland told the BBC's World Today programme.
Photo: Women carry water from a well at the village of Koumboula in southern Niger July 1, 2005. The United Nations said on July 12, 2005 it needed to provide emergency food aid in Niger for almost three times as many people as initially estimated, partly because donors had been slow to react to the crisis. Starving children are dying every day in aid-agency feeding centres in the arid West African nation, where the worst drought in years has aggravated chronic food shortages and left some 3.6 million people -- roughly a quarter of the population -- hungry. Picture taken July 1, 2005. (REUTERS/Finbarr O'Reilly July 12. 2005)
The slow response has greatly increased the cost of dealing with the crisis, aid workers say.
"The funding needs are sky-rocketing because it's a matter of saving lives," WFP Niger representative Gian Carlo Cirri said.
"The pity is we designed a preventative strategy early enough, but we didn't have the chance to implement it."
Aid workers in Niger say that up to a quarter of the country's 12 million people need food aid.
The UN has now received only a third of the $30m it had asked for, Mr Egeland said.
Mr Egeland also said that beyond immediate food aid, the world should help Niger improve its agricultural methods to avoid future food crises - but this programme had received even fewer pledges.
Photo: Girls carry basins of water at a village in southern Niger, June 30, 2005. Rains on Niger's dust-blown fields have kindled hopes a devastating drought may be ending, but relief workers warned on Monday that more aid was needed to save starving children. Rich nations largely ignored Niger's calls for help last year when failed rains and locusts pushed 3.6 million people to the brink of starvation in the arid West African country, which has difficulty feeding itself even in good years. Picture taken July 1, 2005. (REUTERS/Finbarr O'Reilly July 18, 2005)
Tags: Niger Africa G8 Oxfam Anza aid workers UN starvation West Africa Jan Egeland Plumpynut Doctors Without Borders famine locusts Hilary Andersson BBC
Note, the report says the food crisis had been predicted for almost a year and the Niger government has sought to downplay the scale of the crisis, refusing demands to distribute free food, and aid workers in Niger say that up to a quarter of the country's 12 million people need food aid. Excerpt:
A plane carrying food aid has landed in Niger, where some 150,000 children are said to be facing starvation.
However, the BBC's Hilary Andersson in southern Niger says the 16 tons of aid is a "drop in the ocean".
Some 23,000 tons of food are needed for more than 2.5m people, the UN says. The food crisis follows poor rains and locust invasions last year.
Children are dying every day and many are too sick to make it to the few feeding centres which have been set up.
The plane carrying oil, sugar and Plumpynut - a highly nutritious paste for young children - was sent by French aid agency Reunir.
Photo: An employee at Marseille-Proovence airport looks over crates filled with 18 tons of food supplies bound for Niger. After months of desperate appeals, Niger began receiving shipments of emergency food aid from western development partners. (AFP/Patrick Valasseris July 22, 2005)
Another airlift is expected over the weekend, containing 40 tons of millet and 28 tons of oil, says the UN's World Food Programme.
In a single feeding centre, about 20 children out of 100 children have died in the past few weeks, our correspondent says.
Photo: A worker with the medical charity Medecins Sans Frontiers (MSF) registers the names of malnourished children at a feeding centre in the town of Guidan Roumdji in southern Niger June 30, 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)
The charity Oxfam said families were feeding their children grass and leaves from trees to keep them alive.
Photo: Swiss Jean Ziegler, UN special rapporteur of the commission on human rights on the right to food, shows a plant called Anza, a bitter fruit people in Niger are obliged to eat because of severe food shortage, as he speaks about the food situation in Niger after returning from a mission in the central African country, at the United Nations in Geneva, Switzerland, Tuesday, July 13, 2005. (AP Photo/Keystone, Martial Trezzini July 13, 2005)
The UN under-secretary general for humanitarian affairs, Jan Egeland, on Wednesday accused the international community of reacting slowly to the crisis in Niger.
The crisis was widely predicted after last year's poor harvests but initial food appeals went largely unheeded.
The Niger government has also sought to downplay the scale of the crisis, refusing demands to distribute free food.
"The world wakes up when we see images on the TV and when we see children dying," Mr Egeland told the BBC's World Today programme.
Photo: Women carry water from a well at the village of Koumboula in southern Niger July 1, 2005. The United Nations said on July 12, 2005 it needed to provide emergency food aid in Niger for almost three times as many people as initially estimated, partly because donors had been slow to react to the crisis. Starving children are dying every day in aid-agency feeding centres in the arid West African nation, where the worst drought in years has aggravated chronic food shortages and left some 3.6 million people -- roughly a quarter of the population -- hungry. Picture taken July 1, 2005. (REUTERS/Finbarr O'Reilly July 12. 2005)
The slow response has greatly increased the cost of dealing with the crisis, aid workers say.
"The funding needs are sky-rocketing because it's a matter of saving lives," WFP Niger representative Gian Carlo Cirri said.
"The pity is we designed a preventative strategy early enough, but we didn't have the chance to implement it."
Aid workers in Niger say that up to a quarter of the country's 12 million people need food aid.
The UN has now received only a third of the $30m it had asked for, Mr Egeland said.
Mr Egeland also said that beyond immediate food aid, the world should help Niger improve its agricultural methods to avoid future food crises - but this programme had received even fewer pledges.
Photo: Girls carry basins of water at a village in southern Niger, June 30, 2005. Rains on Niger's dust-blown fields have kindled hopes a devastating drought may be ending, but relief workers warned on Monday that more aid was needed to save starving children. Rich nations largely ignored Niger's calls for help last year when failed rains and locusts pushed 3.6 million people to the brink of starvation in the arid West African country, which has difficulty feeding itself even in good years. Picture taken July 1, 2005. (REUTERS/Finbarr O'Reilly July 18, 2005)
Tags: Niger Africa G8 Oxfam Anza aid workers UN starvation West Africa Jan Egeland Plumpynut Doctors Without Borders famine locusts Hilary Andersson BBC
Friday, July 22, 2005
UN on Niger: "In the last few days, the world has finally woken up"
Photo: A malnourished child is being weighed upon his arrival at a Doctors Without Borders aid. The bobbing needle only confirms what Doctor Chantal Umutoni feared -- five and a half kilograms, when he should weigh at least 15. (AFP/File)
Fri Jul 22, 2005 MARADI, Niger (AFP) - So weak that he cannot raise his hand to swipe away the flies that settle on him, Hamissou lies still in the arms of his grandmother, who herself can barely muster the strength to lift him onto the scale.
The chances for survival of this three-year-old are as slim as his spindly arms and legs, making him yet another potential victim of the hunger afflicting Niger.
After months of warnings and desperate appeals for aid, the northwest African country is on the brink of a full-scale malnutrition crisis that threatens at least one quarter of its 12 million people.
"In early May, we recorded 390 admissions per week. Last week we were at 717," said a visibly worried Mego Terzian, field coordinator for the relief organization Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF, Doctors Without Borders), which has set up therapeutic feeding centers in the hardest-hit south and center of the vast nation.
Maradi, some 600 kilometers (360 miles) east of the capital Niamey, is considered the epicenter of the food crisis produced by years of drought and compounded by last year's invasion of desert locusts, the worst to hit Niger and its Sahel neighbors in more than a decade.
With its national cereal stocks depleted and prices of imports soaring, Niger is facing a crisis that could rob parents of 150,000 children before it is over, according to estimates from international relief organizations.
International aid has been slowly arriving in the form of fruit juices and bags of grain from countries such as Libya and Morocco, but western donor mainstays have only begun to offer sizable contributions of financial and in-kind assistance.
A first planeload of food from France, coordinated by the relief agency Reunir, or reunite, founded by former health minister Bernard Kouchner, arrived Thursday.
Other laden Antonov cargo planes bearing nutritive-packed peanut butter, peanut oil and grains are also expected to touch down over the weekend.
"In the last few days, the world has finally woken up," a triumphant Jan Egeland, coordinator of relief for the United Nations, said Friday from Geneva.
"We got in ten days more than in the past ten months (and) I am hopeful that we will get most of what we have appealed for," he said of the 30 million-dollar request for food, development and medical aid launched by the UN.
"This is not much money: this is 20 minutes of the world's military spending. I think the world can afford it."
The United Nations is not alone to stump for aid for Niger, no stranger to chronic malnutrition as one of the world's least developed countries with poverty levels at a crushing 80 percent.
In an appeal to ensure that Niger's Sahel neighbors escape its hungry fate, the International Committee of the Red Cross on Friday asked for another 11.5 million euros (14 million dollars) to help feed Mali, Mauritania and Burkina Faso.
"The next harvest is due in three months, so seeds will need to be distributed and sown in the next couple of weeks," ICRC mission coordinator Langdon Greenhalgh said.
The next couple of weeks are also critical for children like Hamissou, whose bloated belly, skeletal limbs and glazed expression are symptomatic of marasma, an advanced stage of malnutrition.
Children treated at MSF's feeding centers are carefully pumped full of nutrients in an easily digestible form, with PlumpyNut peanut butter a favored way to bring their weight levels up in a healthy and sustained way.
More than 12,000 children have passed through the MSF centers since January, spending as much time as needed under the care and ministration of the doctors and volunteers until they reach their proper weight.
Thirteen-month-old Bacha is almost there, having added two kilograms in the last 15 days.
"I am so, so happy," said his relieved mother, Ai, who came from Zinder, 220 kilometers east, for treatment for her son and will depart soon bearing food supplies to feed Bacha's six other brothers and sisters.
"He is a different baby."
Report courtesy http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/nigerfoodcrisis
Tags: Niger Africa Sahel Maradi malnutrition aid workers Burkina Faso Libya West Africa Antonov Plumpynut Doctors Without Borders famine locusts Mali Mauritania
Niger's quiet tragedy
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
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
Thursday, July 21, 2005
Ireland: Conor Lenihan announces 1 million euros for humanitarian crisis in Niger
Source: Government of Ireland via ReliefWeb 21 Jul 2005 - copy report:
Conor Lenihan T.D., Minister of State for Development Cooperation and Human Rights, today pledged 1 million euros to support the international response to the current food crisis in Niger.
Speaking after a meeting with Paddy Maguinness, Deputy Chief Executive of Concern, the Minister said:
"The situation in Niger continues to deteriorate. The current food shortages are affecting more than 3.6 million people and the levels of child malnutrition are particularly acute.
The Department has been monitoring the situation closely in recent weeks, working in close contact with UN partners, including the World Food Programme, and with Concern, who have been working on the ground in Niger for some years.
Today's pledge of 1 million euros shows that Ireland is stepping up to the plate and doing so in a timely fashion.
I am immediately making available 500,000 euros of this money to Concern. They are on the ground and already providing assistance.
It is important to see the situation in Niger in the context of other food shortages in Africa. In June, I announced funding of 2.5 million euros to help address such emergencies in Southern Africa. There are also ongoing and emerging humanitarian crises in Sudan and in the Horn of Africa which we are addressing. It is important that the international community keep up to speed on developments and respond appropriately.
It is also vital to prevent such crises occurring. Ireland is funding a range of disaster prevention activities including supporting the UN in its efforts to prevent or mitigate the type of natural disaster we see in Niger where the effects of locust infestation are compounding an already very difficult situation caused by drought."
Photo: A malnourished child waits for treatment at a feeding center run by the medical charity Medecins Sans Frontiers in the town of Maradi in southern Niger July 1, 2005. The situation in Niger highlights Africa's plight days ahead of next week's Group of Eight industrialized nations summit in Scotland, where Britain plans to put fighting poverty on the (Finbarr O'Reilly/Reuters July 12, 2005)
Note for Editors:
Niger is one of the world's poorest countries, ranked 176th out of 177 on the UN Development Programme's Human Development Index.
A severe drought last year, combined with a plague of locusts, destroyed much of the crop that was needed to feed the people and the cattle they rely on. This has compounded already severe food shortages. 800,000 children under-five are suffering from hunger, including 150,000 who have exhibited signs of severe malnutrition.
Priority humanitarian needs as identified by the UN partner agencies include:
- Recuperation of malnourished children under five and pregnant and lactating women through therapeutic and supplementary feeding.
- Increase in food availability and accessibility at community-level, through subsidised sales, food-for-work activities, cash-for-work, food-for-training, and support to cereal banks.
- Support to existing health services to prevent water-borne diseases in affected areas.
To date in 2005, Ireland has provided over 12 million euros in emergency support to UN agency partners for activities from the tsunami affected region to critical, ongoing humanitarian crises in Africa. In addition, funding support of some 20 million euros has been provided to date in 2005 to Non-Governmental Organisation partners to support their emergency programme activities across a number of the most urgent humanitarian situations including Darfur in Western Sudan and the evolving Southern Africa food emergency.
Tags: Niger Ireland Concern Southern Africa malnutrition aid workers food emergency West Africa drought UN famine tsunami NGO Darfur
Conor Lenihan T.D., Minister of State for Development Cooperation and Human Rights, today pledged 1 million euros to support the international response to the current food crisis in Niger.
Speaking after a meeting with Paddy Maguinness, Deputy Chief Executive of Concern, the Minister said:
"The situation in Niger continues to deteriorate. The current food shortages are affecting more than 3.6 million people and the levels of child malnutrition are particularly acute.
The Department has been monitoring the situation closely in recent weeks, working in close contact with UN partners, including the World Food Programme, and with Concern, who have been working on the ground in Niger for some years.
Today's pledge of 1 million euros shows that Ireland is stepping up to the plate and doing so in a timely fashion.
I am immediately making available 500,000 euros of this money to Concern. They are on the ground and already providing assistance.
It is important to see the situation in Niger in the context of other food shortages in Africa. In June, I announced funding of 2.5 million euros to help address such emergencies in Southern Africa. There are also ongoing and emerging humanitarian crises in Sudan and in the Horn of Africa which we are addressing. It is important that the international community keep up to speed on developments and respond appropriately.
It is also vital to prevent such crises occurring. Ireland is funding a range of disaster prevention activities including supporting the UN in its efforts to prevent or mitigate the type of natural disaster we see in Niger where the effects of locust infestation are compounding an already very difficult situation caused by drought."
Photo: A malnourished child waits for treatment at a feeding center run by the medical charity Medecins Sans Frontiers in the town of Maradi in southern Niger July 1, 2005. The situation in Niger highlights Africa's plight days ahead of next week's Group of Eight industrialized nations summit in Scotland, where Britain plans to put fighting poverty on the (Finbarr O'Reilly/Reuters July 12, 2005)
Note for Editors:
Niger is one of the world's poorest countries, ranked 176th out of 177 on the UN Development Programme's Human Development Index.
A severe drought last year, combined with a plague of locusts, destroyed much of the crop that was needed to feed the people and the cattle they rely on. This has compounded already severe food shortages. 800,000 children under-five are suffering from hunger, including 150,000 who have exhibited signs of severe malnutrition.
Priority humanitarian needs as identified by the UN partner agencies include:
- Recuperation of malnourished children under five and pregnant and lactating women through therapeutic and supplementary feeding.
- Increase in food availability and accessibility at community-level, through subsidised sales, food-for-work activities, cash-for-work, food-for-training, and support to cereal banks.
- Support to existing health services to prevent water-borne diseases in affected areas.
To date in 2005, Ireland has provided over 12 million euros in emergency support to UN agency partners for activities from the tsunami affected region to critical, ongoing humanitarian crises in Africa. In addition, funding support of some 20 million euros has been provided to date in 2005 to Non-Governmental Organisation partners to support their emergency programme activities across a number of the most urgent humanitarian situations including Darfur in Western Sudan and the evolving Southern Africa food emergency.
Tags: Niger Ireland Concern Southern Africa malnutrition aid workers food emergency West Africa drought UN famine tsunami NGO Darfur
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