|
By Pascale Harter
BBC News, Mauritania
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Mauritania hopes to avoid the starvation seen
in Niger |
The
combination of the locust invasion and drought which has brought a
food crisis to Niger is set to affect the entire Sahel region of
West Africa.
Millions of people in Mauritania, Mali and Burkina Faso are
facing a severe food shortage, the UN has warned.
The spectre of skeletal children too weak to support the weight
of their own heads is yet to be seen in Mauritania.
But aid agencies are hoping that this time, donors will not let
it come to that before intervening.
Niger is simply in the advanced stages of a food shortage
threatening to engulf this entire region.
Critical time
World Vision has already announced a Stage 2 emergency in
Mauritania.
That is the critical time before famine.
The organisation has warned that a million people here are
already in need of food aid.
A further 1.5m are at risk in Mali and Burkina Faso, according to
the United Nations World Food Programme.
It's a silent tsunami, says World Vision.
Families are selling off the last of their livestock to buy food
and descending further into poverty in what is already the poorest
region of the world.
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Special Niger report
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