World looks away as Niger starves Sydney Morning Herald |July 22, 2005 http://smh.com.au/news/world/world-looks-away-as-niger- starves/2005/07/21/1121539094121.html
About 3.6 million people face starvation in the West African state of Niger unless the world responds urgently to the food crisis there, Oxfam says. "Families are feeding their children grass and leaves from the trees to keep them alive," Natasha Kafoworola Quist, a spokeswoman for the aid agency, said. Niger, one of the poorest countries in the world, was devastated by a plague of locusts last year and by drought that lasted until earlier this month. The United Nations' humanitarian chief, Jan Egeland, said this week that 2.5 million people in Niger were in desperate need of food after the world ignored UN appeals for urgent aid. Oxfam estimated that about 1 million children were at risk. "The situation is desperate. Even the limited food that is available has soared in price, rendering it unaffordable for most families, and there is no hope of any harvest for at least three months," Ms Quist said. Oxfam said UN appeals for aid were "dangerously" underfunded, with only one-third of the money needed from donors being pledged. In many cases, the pledged money has not arrived, the agency said. Advertisement AdvertisementThe UN first appealed for assistance for Niger in November and got almost no response. Another appeal for $US16 million ($21 million) in March raised only about $US1 million. The latest appeal on May 25 for $US30 million has so far raised about $US10 million. The UN "needs money now. Every day that the world's richest countries look the other way, more people face starvation. They have to put their hands in their pockets before it's too late," Ms Quist said. The emergencies director of Save the Children UK, Toby Porter, said that Niger's crisis "began at precisely the time of the Live 8 concerts and the Group of Eight meeting at Gleneagles, yet the world could not find the money needed to intervene". -- This is ZESTGlobal. Post articles on international affairs to [email protected] If you got this mail as a forward, subscribe to ZESTGlobal by sending a blank mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] OR, if you have a Yahoo! ID, by visiting http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ZESTGlobal/join/ Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ZESTGlobal/ <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
