To FN-chefer er ikke i tvivl efter fire dages rundrejse i den betrængte region i Saharas sydlige udkant – hjælpen må komme omgående, hvis en større sultkatastrofe skal afværges.
GENEVA, 7 May 2012: Wrapping up a four-day visit to the epicentre of the food crisis sweeping the Sahel region of West Africa, two top United Nations humanitarian officials Monday urged the world to meet its commitments, both financial as well as political, to help those in need.
“The window of opportunity to save lives is narrowing by the day,” the World Food Programme’s (WFP) Executive Director, Ertharin Cousin, and the High Commissioner for Refugees, António Guterres, said in a joint statement at the end of their visit to Niger.
“Today we appeal to the international community on behalf of the most vulnerable people in Niger and Sahelian countries. The time to act is now”, they added.
Overall, there are currently 15 million people facing food insecurity in the Sahel, which stretches from the Atlantic Ocean to the Red Sea and of which Niger is a part of.
The two officials warned that the West African country is facing a “deepening humanitarian crisis,” owing to the impact of a quick succession of droughts, abnormally high food prices and the failure of crops.
“In the Ouallam and Maradi regions, we saw fathers and mothers struggling to feed their families in villages where hunger has already taken hold in advance of the traditional hunger season,” the pair said, noting:
“The hungry poor – whether small-holder farmers (småbønder) or pastoralists (nomader) – face a situation where savings are exhausted and there has been no opportunity to rebuild livestock herds.”
Ms. Cousin and Mr. Guterres noted that the situation has now been compounded (besværliggjort) by an influx of refugees who are fleeing conflict in neighbouring Mali, with tens of thousands of people seeking refuge in the areas worst-hit by the drought, joining the millions facing hunger.
In response to the crisis, WFP has scaled up operations to provide food assistance to almost four million people in Niger, while the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) is helping some 160.000 refugees who fled conflict in Mali to neighbouring countries.
Læs videre på
http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=41943&Cr=sahel&Cr1=
Begynd fra: “As we enter the lean (magre) season….”
Kilde: FNs Nyhedstjeneste.
