Fuente : UN (United Nations)
http://www.un.org/

Niger: UN raises flash food appeal to $80 million, with two thirds still to come in

/noticias.info/
4 August 2005 – With Niger's hunger crisis worsening due to poor initial donor response, the United Nations today raised its emergency flash appeal to almost $81 million to feed 2.7 million of the most vulnerable people affected by drought and the worst invasion of crop-devouring locusts in 15 years in the world's second poorest country.

Of the revised total of $80,942,986, $25,418,825 has already been contributed or committed, leaving a new shortfall of $55,524,161. The total is five times the original $16,191,000 sought little more than two months ago to address the then "looming food crisis" during the lean season from May to September.

"The slow and meagre initial response to the Appeal resulted in the deterioration of the situation, leading to higher-than-usual malnutrition and mortality rates, and prolonging the projected duration and impact of the crisis beyond the current lean season into the harvest and post-harvest period," the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said.

The strategy for the upcoming months will be to save lives, reduce vulnerability in the immediate term and enhance coping mechanisms in the medium term, it added, in the West African country where the hungry include 32,000 severely malnourished children and 160,000 moderately malnourished children.

The UN World Food Programme (WFP) said it had received just $20.6 million, or 36 per cent, of the $57.6 million it has sought in the revised appeal and a further 58,939 tons of food are urgently needed.

"The urgent provision of food is crucial; if assistance is not provided quickly, WFP expects to see a massive liquidation of property and livestock with a severe impact on the current agricultural season and thus the long-term well-being of the population, with loss of life among the most vulnerable groups," it said in its latest update today.

Additional donor support will avoid immediate and future shortfalls, it added.

WFP is now airlifting 186 tons of corn soya blend and 100 tons of high energy biscuits to Niger. A recent outpouring from donors has enabled purchases of various commodities in the region and some are now being distributed or are in transit. In an effort to move food fast, WFP has conducted several borrowings from other WFP programmes in the region.

It is in the process of rerouting vessels to discharge commodities, and has made a fourth allocation of $10 million from emergency funding to buy cereals which are now available in the Port of Lomé in Togo.

Despite these efforts, shortages of almost all commodities are expected in the next five months. To avert such shortfalls during August, WFP is speeding up the discharge and delivery of Niger-bound commodities in or approaching ports in the region.

Five mobile warehouses and three generators have been airlifted from WFP's logistics base in Brindisi, Italy. Staffing has been greatly reinforced with 44 international posts planned. Of these, 21 staff are currently in place and nine are arriving in the coming days.

The WFP today welcomed a cash donation of $1.8 million cash donation from Turkey for its operations in Niger, Mali, Mauritania, Burkina Faso, Sierra Leone and Guinea.

"This is an incredible donation from a country that continues to generously support WFP's work," Deputy Executive Director for Fundraising and Communications John Powell said. notas_de_prensa_archivo