Four United Nations agencies and the Red Cross have warned in a joint statement on Friday that a major food crisis in West Africa's Sahel region is threatening the lives of about ten million people. The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), the Office for Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), UNICEF, the World Food Programme (WFP) and the International Committee of the Red Cross called on concerned parties to contribute to lifesaving activities in the region.
They said that Niger, the world's poorest country, has over 7 million people affected and in Chad two million people need food aid and livelihood support. The statement further noted that thousands of others in some parts in Mali, Burkina Faso and in northern Nigeria are struggling to survive.
