Half of Niger’s Population Hungry
AFRICA, 23 Aug 2010
Press TV – TRANSCEND Media Service
Niger is facing the worst hunger crisis in its history, with almost half of the population (or 7.3 million people) in desperate need of food, the UN’s World Food (WFP) Program says.
The WFP says 17 percent of the African nation’s children, or one in five, are acutely malnourished.
The charity Helen Keller International (HKI) has accused the international community of failing to respond effectively to repeated appeals for help for Niger.
HKI’s Africa director, Shawn Baker, stated, “Famine is a very loaded word. But I think if you look in terms of the number of children affected, the way the livestock have been decimated, and the population movements that were seen earlier in the year, you certainly could consider a famine situation,” reported BBC.
The UN reported that more than 67,000 people lost their homes after severe rains in the past week. The River Niger, the 3rd largest river in Africa, reached its highest level for 80 years, said the regional river authority, the ABN.
Not only are many village people going short of food, but their livestock, which are their only real assets, have died off.
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And in the meantime the Nigerian government continues to promote foreign land grabbing in order to ensure the food and energy security needs of citizens from other countries, including India, China, Vietnam and Israel (e.g., http://farmlandgrab.org/cat/nigeria). The promise in these types of deals for any host country is “more jobs, more technology and economic growth”. Findings from a World Bank study on the issue that have been leaked to the media show that, not surprisingly, these promises often do not materialise. This is particularly concerning given that the UN, lead by the FAO and others, are rationalising land grabbing in this same way – that is, its ok for communities to give up their primary (resource ownership) source of food security in favour of their secondary means (purchasing).
This charity Helen Keller International (HKI), what a waste of time and energy !!!!!! and lack of vision. They accuse the international community of failing to respond effectively to repeated appeals for help for Niger. What help??????? money? food? useless.
The ONLY help the international community could and should give, is make sure Britain, France, Belgium, USA and other countries stop not only selling weapons to Niger, but arranging all sorts of Bank loans for the Niger Government to be able to purchase those weapons. Europe also makes a handsome fortune from selling military uniforms to Niger.
Money should only be given to the Niger Government for the construction of Hospitals, Schools, roads, medical equipment and medicines, school book and books for public libraries, music and art schools, land and animal farming development, theatres, cinemas, housing, public recreational parks, good radio and TV stations, etc, etc.
Within months, in Niger, there will not be one single undernourished person.
Alberto Portugheis