Perilous
Times and Climate Change
Drought has left 13 million people on the brink of
starvation in West Africa
March 9, 2012 - 2:39PM
PAA
Drought has left 13 million people on the brink of a full-scale
humanitarian crisis in West Africa, leading British charity Oxfam
says.
Oxfam said tens of thousands of people in the Sahel region of west
and central Africa could die in the coming months if the
international community did not distribute much-needed aid
immediately.
The charity said Western governments and aid agencies risked
making the mistakes of last year in the Horn of Africa, where the
famine may have been far less severe had there been a swifter
response to the crisis as it developed.
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In parts of Chad, Mali and Niger, the malnutrition rates have
exceeded 15 per cent, with more than one million children at risk
of starvation. Aid workers declare a famine once malnutrition
rates exceed 30 per cent.
The next harvest in the region is due in October and the United
Nations has estimated that more than STG450 million ($A672.60
million)of aid is needed to avert a humanitarian crisis.
Oxfam's regional director in West Africa, Mamadou Biteye, said
millions of people were on the threshold of a major crisis.
"All signs point to a drought becoming a catastrophe if nothing is
done soon," Biteye said.
"The world cannot allow this to happen.
"A concerted aid effort is needed to stop tens of thousands dying
due to international complacency.
"We witnessed last year the situation spiralling out of control in
East Africa as the aid community failed to act swiftly.
"The worst can be avoided and thousands of lives will be saved if
we act now. It's that simple."
Oxfam revealed the grim details of the situation in the Sahel
region as it launched an emergency appeal to raise STG23 million
($A34.4 million), which would be used to reach the one million
people most in need of help.
Drought, soaring food prices and regional conflict are being
blamed for the crisis.
The cost of food has jumped by up to 50 per cent in places and is
expected to rise further in the next few months.
Villagers in some parts of Chad are so desperate for food they are
searching ant hills to retrieve grain collected by ants, while in
Niger some 33,000 children have left school to migrate with their
parents in search of food.
Erratic rainfall has been blamed for a poor harvest in Niger,
Chad, Mauritania and Mali. According to the Food and Agriculture
Organisation, agricultural production in the region is down by 25
per cent from 2010.
Harvests in neighbouring Nigeria, Benin and Ghana have been
reasonable, but Oxfam said it was unlikely there would be any
surplus for those in the Sahel region.
Meanwhile, conflict in northern Mali has forced 160,000 to flee
their homes.