The UN's food agency doubled its aid Monday to Niger as thousands join a desperate exodus from parched farmland in western Africa's Sahel region, where 10 million people are facing hunger.
The search for food has sent thousands flocking into Maradi, the main city in south central Niger, a vast arid country on the southern rim of the Sahara desert that has become the epicentre of the crisis.
As the UN's humanitarian chief John Holmes arrived in the country on Monday, aid agencies said nearly eight million people — more than half the population — were facing food shortages.
"I had to leave Chadakori, my village, where the younwa (hunger) is spreading desolation," said Balkissou, a young woman begging in Maradi's dusty streets.
Her wire-thin body lost in her dress, Balkissou said her village north of the city is "almost empty", save for those too old or too young to leave. She carried plastic bags of food scraps she had collected to send home to her six children.
For months, the city's bus station has become a magnet for refugees from across the entire central-southern region of Niger, where severe water shortages laid waste to crops last year.
"We know that this crisis is only just beginning," Holmes warned after holding crisis talks with the leaders of Niger's transitional government.
Holmes said his agency still faced a shortfall of 130 million dollars for an emergency appeal issued for Niger by the United Nations, which is seeking 200 million dollars (150 million euros).
Echoing his concerns, the UN World Food Program announced it was doubling the number of hungry people it feeds in Niger to 2.3 million people.
http://www.vancouversun.com/life/Hunger+forces+million+mass+exodus+parched+Niger/2953281/story.html
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