UN warns of locust swarm menacing Horn of Africa
Pastor Dale Morgan
UN warns of locust swarm menacing Horn of Africa*
ADDIS ABABA, Feb 19 (AFP) Feb 19, 2008
A gathering swarm of locusts threatens Ethiopia and other countries in
the Horn of Africa, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian
Affairs (OCHA) warned Tuesday.
"In Ethiopia, we've had reports over the last few days of young locusts
gathering in a five square kilometres (two square miles) swarm east of
the Rift Valley on the high plateaux of the Oromo region ... and in the
south of the Somali region to the east," OCHA said in a statement from
their Addis Ababa office.
It warned the countries at risk -- principally Djibouti, northern Kenya,
Eritrea and Yemen, as well as Ethiopia -- to set up surveillance
mechanisms and begin protecting crops.
It added that the swarms would reach maturity and lay eggs before the
onset of the rainy season, in March.
The OCHA cautioned that "surveillance operations and controls will be
difficult in this region because of its mountainous terrain, and because
the swarm is highly mobile."