Dakar (dpa) – About 1.5 million people could face a severe food crisis in the western Sahel, the UN children's organization UNICEF said from its Dakar office on Friday. According to the agency, more than a million children face severe and acute malnutrition as a result of poor rainfall, failed harvests and depleted food stores across a region stretching from Mauritania through northern Senegal, Mali, Niger, Burkina Faso and northern Nigeria to Chad. The impact is likely to be felt from late March, as crop production slows to a halt and the dry season takes hold. “A multiple disaster is stalking children in the Sahel,” UNICEF's David Gressly said. “Funding is still not coming in at the rate we need to prepare properly.” The situation is likely to be exacerbated by the ongoing conflict between government soldiers and Tuareg fighters in Mali, according to Gressly. “The upsurge of fighting in Mali, as well the acute insecurity in northern Nigeria and elsewhere, is complicating the aid operation,” he said. “Without a good emergency response and a sustained effort to reduce risk in the medium to long term an entire generation faces a future of dependency, poverty and threatened survival.” UNICEF says it has received only about one fifth of the funds it needs to provide feeding centres, emergency care and food supplies to those likely to be affected. According to other aid groups, including Oxfam, people in parts of Chad have become so desperate for food that they have begun breaking down anthills and termite mounds for grain. BM ShortURL: http://goo.gl/7biHG Tags: Disaster, Sahel, UNICEF Section: Health, Latest News, West Africa
