Countries face food emergencies

Five of 23 countries in sub-Sahara Africa facing food emergencies are in the Great Lakes region, the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) reported on Wednesday. FAO reported from its Rome headquarters that civil strife, drought, internal displacement of people and economic disruption were the main reasons for food emergencies in the African states. "In central Africa, civil strife and insecurity continue to undermine food security in several countries," FAO said in the new report titled 'Food Supply Situation and Crop Prospects in Sub-Saharan Africa'. It said a serious humanitarian situation persisted in the in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, because of inter-ethnic violence, causing deaths of hundreds and the displacement of thousands of people. Despite favourable climatic conditions, FAO said, crop production was expected to reduce sharply in the eastern and northeastern Congo following an escalation of the civil war. FAO said that in the Central African Republic, the food security situation remained "precarious", and that food production was not expected to increase in 2003 because of persistent insecurity, especially in the north. In Burundi and Rwanda, good crops are expected in the 2003 second season due to rains in late April and May. However, FAO said there were crop losses in some provinces due to unfavourable weather. FAO lists the 23 countries facing food emergencies as Angola, Burundi, Cape Verde, Central African Republic, Democratic Republic of Congo, Republic of Congo, Côte d'Ivoire, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Guinea, Kenya, Lesotho, Liberia, Madagascar, Mauritania, Mozambique, Sierra Leone, Somalia, Sudan, Swaziland, Tanzania, Uganda and Zimbabwe. [The FAO report is available online at: www.fao.org]