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DECEMBER 03, 2002 - 23:35 ET
U.N. Food Chief Warns of Africa Famine
By EDITH M. LEDERER - Associated Press Writer
UNITED NATIONS (AP) - Africa faces an unprecedented hunger crisis with 38 million people threatened by starvation, the head of the U.N.'s food relief agency warned the Security Council on Tuesday.
James T. Morris, executive director of the World Food Program, said the only obstacle to ending hunger tomorrow is "lack of political will."
But instead of making the political decisions and earmarking the money to eliminate hunger, "U.N. member states have unwittingly adopted policies that make the idea of ending hunger little more than fantasy."
"There is not enough money to feed those starving today, and trade and economic policies - national and international - make it unlikely all will be fed in the future," he said.
Morris said the United Nations is currently "struggling to feed 38 million new victims of food crises" in Africa.
"We are now confronted with the possibility of mass starvation in several regions in Africa - in a half dozen countries in the south, in the Horn of Africa and in parts of the Sahel," he said.
In southern Africa, where over 14 million people in Zimbabwe, Zambia, Malawi, Lesotho, Swaziland and Mozambique, need food, donors have pledged only 56 percent of the $511 million needed, he said.
In the Horn of Africa, 6 million Ethiopians and more than 2 million Eritreans need food due to drought, the legacy of political disputes and violence, Morris said. Violence and hunger also "go hand in hand now in West Africa," especially Liberia and Ivory Coast.
Earlier Tuesday, 15 American humanitarian groups met Morris in Baltimore to urge governments, citizens' groups and private citizens to help Africans plagued by famine and AIDS. The relief groups, which include the American Red Cross, Save the Children and Catholic Relief Services, say more than 34 million people in sub-Saharan Africa face death by starvation in the next six to eight months.
Morris told an open Security Council meeting late Tuesday that Africa faces a drought far more widespread than ever before, at a time of "massive demands for food aid elsewhere" in Afghanistan, North Korea and parts of Central America.
Last year, the World Food Program fed 77 million people in 82 countries at a cost of $1.74 billion. But Morris said it has had to cut off rations because of a lack of money.
"For the short-term, we will need a major infusion of funds for humanitarian relief and stronger and better cooperation from recipient governments; for the long-term we will need reforms in governance and economic policy in Africa."
"People are hungry because their governments have made the wrong political decisions. In the end hunger is a political creation and we must use political means to end it," he said.
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