The Hindu : International / Globescan : Locusts sweep across Africa

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, Jul 12, 2004

International

International - Globescan

Locusts sweep across Africa

LONDON: A shadow will fall over Africa this week. Vast tracts of land will be darkened and destroyed and the sky will turn black. The day of the locust has returned. Experts are warning that Africa is on the brink of its worst plague of the insects for nearly 20 years. The United Nations describes the situation as "extremely critical". Swarms big enough to engulf London, and containing 50 million insects, were monitored by U.N. analysts last week. They watched with mounting concern as swarms of locusts began to sweep southwards from breeding grounds in North Africa. Their rate of travel is astonishing. Wind conditions forecast this week will see locusts moving 100 km a day. Radar has helped track the first insects to central Senegal, 2100 km from their starting point south of the Atlas Mountains in Morocco and Algeria. The invasion has only just started. Mauritania, Mali, Chad, Niger and western Sudan are next in line. Eventually, a swathe of scavenging insects 6,000-km-wide could straddle Africa. A single locust devours its own weight in vegetation a day, with a swarm able to consume the same as thousands of people in a matter of hours. The Bible warned that when the locusts came "the land was darkened and ate all the plants in the land so that nothing green was left". The locust clouds, combined with erratic rains and civil conflict, have led the U.N. to warn that 23 African countries are facing food shortages this summer. —

- Guardian Newspapers Limited 2004

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