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Food airlift set as Niger crisis worsens

The UN World Food Program said Monday it was planning two airlifts of emergency food aid to Niger this week as the world steps up its response to the crisis threatening up to four million people in the west African country.

An Ilyushin 76 aircraft carrying high-energy food and some equipment is due to fly out from the Italian city of Brindisi late today in the first of two round trips, WFP spokeswoman Brenda Barton told reporters.

The plane is expected to begin a second trip, probably Friday, the Rome-based UN agency said.

Barton said the agency is also considering another airlift comprising 200 tonnes of corn soyabean, used for supplementary feeding, from Abidjan in the Ivory Coast to Niger.

The shipments are part of an international emergency response to stave off mass starvation with an estimated one in three of the country's 12 million people threatened by severe malnutrition.

After months of appeals, "more and more donations are being confirmed," said Barton, adding that some US$6.6 million had so far been received of the $US16 million requested in a recent WFP appeal.

"While we have seen a surge in response we're still not there," she warned. "In this kind of crisis we have to prepare for the possibility that the numbers of those affected will go up as food aid takes time to get through."

Images depicting the horror of starvation have helped boost the belated international response, according to Barton.

"The increased profile and the shocking images is what is pushing donors to respond. Everybody wants to save a starving baby. Donor countries may not have been fully aware of the seriousness of the problem before now."

Niger, one of the world's poorest countries, was doubly hit last year by drought and a severe locust infestation, resulting in appeals for donor aid. But Barton said the situation was made disastrous by very high levels of chronic malnutrition.

"After Sierra Leone, Niger is the number two country on the list of highest chronic malnutrition. When you've got that distinction, it doesn't take much to ignite a crisis," she said.

According to the WFP, the emergency response is being helped by the fact that the rains have so far held off, making it easier to transport food convoys by road to the worst affected areas, even though the continued absence of rains would seriously affect the forthcoming crop-planting season.

Though the focus is now chiefly on the Niger emergency, the WFP said it is also keeping a close watch on neighboring Mali and Mauritania.
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