'Niger food crisis is easing'
2005-08-03 09:17
Niamey - Niger's president said on Tuesday the food crisis was easing in the drought-stricken West African country, where humanitarian agencies have been rushing to help millions of people on the verge of starvation.
President Mamadou Tandja also announced plans to create food stocks to prevent people here from going hungry again. Tandja's government appealed for urgent help in November, but aid only began trickling in after TV images of dying children drew international attention to the country's plight two weeks ago.
"We can observe with relief that the situation is improving and our anxieties won't take long to dissipate," Tandja said in a speech on the eve of the country's 45th anniversary of independence from France.
The United Nations says the combined effects of drought and crop-destroying locusts have left about 3.6 million people facing severe food shortages. Children are most at risk, with about 800 000 aged under five years who need to be fed urgently.
Tandja expressed his "profound gratitude" to donor nations and humanitarian agencies who stepped in to help end the crisis, but said Niger needed to take steps to prevent it from happening again.
He said his government would create a 100 000-ton cereal food stock for use in future emergencies. He also said his administration would form strategies to manage scarce water and land and work on modernising its agricultural sector.
- AP