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July 22, 2005
Yellowcakeistan is populated, it seems
Niger is in the news, again, except this time it is neither front page nor at the top of the news hour. It's just a few million people who face starvation.
More than three million people, including almost a million children, will face starvation if the world continues to ignore the worsening food crisis in Niger, said international aid agency Oxfam today."The situation is desperate. Even the limited food that is available has soared in price rendering it unaffordable for most families and there is no hope of any harvest for at least three months. Families are feeding their children grass and leaves from the trees to keep them alive," said Natasha Kafoworola Quist, Oxfam Great Britain’s Regional Director for West Africa, currently in Niger.
UN appeals remain dangerously under-funded with only one third of the money needed from international donors pledged. In many cases, even the pledges that have been made have not translated into money arriving. The failure to fund these appeals is putting lives at risk.
As usual, this had been coming for a while. And intervention earlier would have avoided much suffering, besides being much cheaper:
An estimated 3.6 million people are highly vulnerable and 2.5 million are in need of food aid. But over 150,000 children may now starve to death before they get access to emergency food and medication.Jan Egeland, the under-secretary general of the UN said yesterday that if the international community had responded to Niger's appeals for help last year, a child could have been saved from malnourishment for as little as US$1 ($1.46) a day. Now, it will cost eighty times as much to save each of the 150,000 children who are on the verge of starving to death.
He said: "We will get funding for Niger, images are coming out of children dying. But it is too late for those who are severely malnourished and dying."
Wait, I know! They should rename their country to Yellowcakeistan! Plameland! WhereWilsonWentia! That's the only thing that's newsworthy. Who cares about him?
Posted by zeynep at July 22, 2005 09:14 AM
Comments
i was wonering if he is still alive
Posted by: ashley at March 30, 2006 12:16 PM