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UN set to double food aid in 'catastrophic' Kenya
Geneva (AFP) Jan 23, 2009 The United Nations is aiming to double food aid for Kenya to reach at least four million people because of a situation the World Food Programme described Friday as "catastrophic". President Mwai Kibaki declared a "national disaster" in Kenya a week ago, saying 10 million people faced food shortages and launching an appeal for 400 million dollars (312 million euros) in foreign aid. "We will certainly have to more than double the number of people who are benefitting," Burkard Oberle, the UN food relief agency's representative in Kenya, told journalists in Geneva. "We will have to stretch our assistance from 2.1 million people to anywhere between four and 4.8 million in the worst case scenario. "We are seeing at the moment a catastrophic decline in the food security in Kenya," Oberle said. Kibaki says the food crisis is mainly due to drought but blames last year's post-electoral violence for disrupting the planting season and also points to high inflation and a global surge in food prices. Southeastern and coastal areas of Kenya, which only have one harvest a year, are particularly hard hit, according to the World Food Programme. A brief spell of heavy rain in November was not enough to revive crops, added Oberle, who described having seen "very shocking images" of barren fields. The unstable political situation could aggravate the situation, potentially helping to precipitate a "humanitarian crisis", he warned. Kibaki was re-elected in 2007 in disputed presidential elections which the then opposition chief Raila Odinga accused him of stealing, sparking weeks of violence that killed some 1,500 people. The two eventually agreed to form a power-sharing government in February last year after negotiations led by former United Nations chief Kofi Annan. Odinga in now the country's prime minister. Kibaki first came to power in 2002 with a promise to stamp out corruption after 24 years of iron-fisted rule by his predecessor Daniel arap Moi. Share This Article With Planet Earth
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Mali military offensive kills 31 Tuareg rebels
Bamako (AFP) Jan 22, 2009At least 31 Tuareg rebels from a group led by Ibrahim Ag Bahanga were killed Thursday during an army offensive in northern Mali, the defence ministry said in a statement. |
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