Food crisis looms in Burundi
2005-11-29 08:40
Bujumbura - Hundreds of thousands of people in Burundi face potentially deadly food shortages next month due mainly to chronic drought in the northern part of the tiny central African nation, said officials.
The United Nations and government officials said between 300 000 and 400 000 people in seven of Burundi's 16 provinces were threatened by the shortages brought on by a lack of rain, conflict and overpopulation.
A senior official in Burundi's agriculture ministry, Adelin Ntungumburanye, said: "We want to inform and sensitise national and international opinion ... on this very alarming situation.
"These people will face a very critical situation, because a great number will have to survive on only a single meal every one or two days."
Worst-hit regions
According to the World Food Programme, which said it would try to help the most vulnerable by distributing some 3.5 to four tons of food aid in the worst hit regions, the crisis was expected to take hold in December.
Guillaume Folliot of the WFP said: "We will help those who are more vulnerable, between 300 000 and 400 000 people in this zone."
About two million of Burundi's 7.5m population was now dependent on food aid as the country struggled to bring a final end to a 12-year war that had claimed 300 000 lives amid persistent environmental woes.
According to local authorities, the situation was worst in the north and northeast parts of the country, where in December 2004, about 100 people died of starvation. The WFP had said that toll was overstated.