WFP boss raises alarm on hunger crisis in the Sahel
Thursday February 17 2022
A drought-hit area. The World Food Programme has raised alarm over an “absolute crisis” unfolding in the Sahel. PHOTO | FILE | NMG
The World Food Programme on Wednesday raised alarm over an “absolute crisis” unfolding in the Sahel.
In a tweet, WFP Executive Director, David Beasley, “Families have been chased from their homes by extremist groups, starved by drought and plunged into despair by Covid’s economic ripple effect.”
In a video showing Mr Beasley at the heart of a Nigerien desert with desperate-looking families, the WFP boss appealed for funding to intervene and save the population facing starvation due to lack of food.
“This is what happens when you have climate change, conflict, Covid, economic deterioration, price spiking of food. And it has created a catastrophe,” he said.
“11 million people here in the Sahel don’t know where their next meal is coming from. And if they don’t get the help they need immediately, we are talking about starvation, migration and destabilisation.”