WFP Pleads For Aid for Mali

ROME - Aug 5/05 - SNS -- The slow response to the crisis in Niger will end up putting greater demands on donor nations than if donors had responded more quickly when the problem arose.

As a consequence, the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) urged the international community not to make the same mistake with other countries in the Sahel region, and Mali in particular.

The 2004 locust invasion and drought that left 2.5 million people in Niger in need of food aid have also created significant food shortages throughout the Sahelian countries where WFP's efforts to feed over 4.2 million people remain critically under-funded at the most crucial time of the year, when people's food stocks are depleted and the harvest is not due for a few months.

Donations only started flowing in for the agency's emergency operation in Niger after television cameras showed haunting images of skeletal children. In the past two weeks, WFP has received some US$22.8 million from international donors but costs have escalated to US$57.6 million because emergency aid must reach beneficiaries at the height of the rainy season and before the harvest. For the other countries, where WFP is currently revising its needs, the shortfall now amounts to approximately US$13 million.

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