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Some US $1.8 billion is required to provide food in Africa, WFP Executive Director James Morris said on Monday in a briefing to the UN Security Council in which he drew attention to the continent's needs and highlighted the link between food insecurity, peace and security.
"How is that we routinely accept a level of suffering and hopelessness in Africa that we would never accept in any other parts of the world?" Morris said.
The WFP head had already warned, in an address to the Council in December 2002, that the continent was experiencing severe food security because of a "lethal combination" of factors. That combination which, he said, still existed, included HIV/AIDS epidemic, recurring droughts, failed economic policies and conflict. According to Morris, these factors had damaged the food sector and the capacity of governments to respond to food needs.
He also said the issue of alleviating Africa's food crisis has been complicated by the war in Iraq.
WFP has budgeted some US $1.3 billion over six months for Iraq. Asked at a press briefing if he thought WFP would be able to feed Iraq without cutting into food for Africa, Morris replied: "I don't know. I'm optimistic by my nature", according to an account of the press briefing provided by the UN in New York.
Other speakers at the Security Council session also stressed the need for efforts by the international community to address Africa's food crisis, saying that food security was closely related to broader security issues. Some also emphasized the need to address the root causes of hunger, rather than focus on food emergencies.
Reacting to Morris' remark about international tolerance for African suffering, Germany's representative on the council, Hanns Heinrich, said: "Are we routinely accepting the food shortage in Africa? Could it be a case of donor fatigue?"
[A transcript of Morris' presentation to the Security Council and an account of his press briefing are available at:
www.un.org/News/briefings/docs/2003/morrisbrf.doc.htm
This article was produced by IRIN News while it was part of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. Please send queries on copyright or liability to the UN. For more information: https://shop.un.org/rights-permissions
