[ 2011-12-18 ]

Famine stalks the Sahel
DAKAR (AFP) - Light rains, poor harvests and
overpriced food will combine to create a severe
famine for five Sahel countries if urgent,
large-scale measures are not taken, experts warn.

"The crisis is already here. All you can do is try
to lessen its impact on people, especially ... the
most vulnerable," said Thomas Yanga, head of the
WFP's west African regional office.

Niger, Chad, Mauritania, Burkina Faso and Mali
face the worst threat, while Senegal and Gambia
are also at risk, he said.

Between five million and seven million people face
food insecurity and need immediate assistance in
the Sahel, the southern rim of the Sahara, Yanga
said.

The Oxfam food charity estimates six million
people in Niger and 2.9 million in Mali "live in
areas vulnerable to the coming crisis," and
700,000 in Mauritania are at risk of severe food
insecurity.

According to unofficial figures, nearly two
million people are going hungry in Burkina Faso,
and 13 of Chad's 22 regions "could be affected,"
Oxfam said.

"The situation is looking extremely worrying for
millions of people in west Africa, but the worst
is not yet inevitable," it added. "The crisis has
been identified early, and we know that there are
cost-effective measures that can be taken now to
protect those most vulnerable. This time we can
act before the emergency hits."

Rains in the Sahel have been sporadic, and
remittances sent from relatives abroad have
diminished, Oxfam said, adding that food prices
have gone up an average of 40 percent since 2006.

Niger is already seeing people displaced by
hunger.

Dari Harouna, who fled to Niamey from southwestern
Tillaberi in order to survive, told AFP: "In my
village there's no more to eat. Everyone has fled,
even women and children. There are only old people
left."

In Chad, authorities estimate a grain shortfall of
650,000 tonnes, especially in western Kanem where
"the situation is truly alarming," said its
governor, Ngamaye Djari, noting that the province
took in more than 10,000 "returnees" from the
conflict in Libya.

"The able-bodied have left the region for the
south of the country," unable to farm the land, he
said.

"What I saw in my field this year were stalks that
were devoured by insects," said Abdoulaye Malimy,
a farmer from Kanem. "If nothing is done for us we
will die."

The Sahel has drought every four or five years on
average, said Mamadou Biteye of Oxfam in Dakar.

Some countries have adopted plans to address the
crisis and have sought aid from the United
Nations, the European Union and charities to avoid
a repeat of the food crisis of 2009-10 that
affected some 10 million people.

Mauritania, Niger, Mali and Burkina Faso are
planning to distribute free or low-cost food, seed
and farming equipment.

Ouagadougou will start distributing free food in
January, predicting that by March or April "some
modest families will have serious difficulties
facing food needs," Burkina Faso Agriculture
Minister Laurent Sedogo told AFP.

The UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) is planning an
intervention in eight Sahel countries for children
threatened with malnutrition, while France will
provide 10 million euros ($13 million) in
emergency food aid for the Sahel to WFP.

"What is undertaken today will determine whether a
new major food crisis will occur" in the region,
said Vincent Taillandier, an official of Action
Against Hunger.

"But it's the cumulative effect of the current
situation, less than two years after the last big
food crisis, which presages the worst crisis since
2005."

Source - AFP

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