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10 million face food crisis in Africa

JOHANNESBURG: Up to 10 million persons in southern Africa face severe food shortages brought on by drought and HIV/AIDS because wealthy nations are failing to heed the lessons of Niger's crisis, a British-based aid group warned on Thursday.

Without urgent help, an estimated 4 million persons each in Malawi and Zimbabwe, 1 million in Zambia, 400,000 in Mozambique, 500,000 in Lesotho and 200,000 in Swaziland will not have enough food over the next six months, Oxfam said in a statement. The U.N. and aid groups issued similar warnings about Niger and its neighbours in West Africa, where crops were ravaged by drought and locusts, but the world did not respond until the situation had reached a crisis point, Oxfam said.

``People died as a direct result,'' said Neil Townsend, the group's humanitarian coordinator for southern Africa. ``Now there is an impending crisis in southern Africa .... If rich countries wait, once again, until TV crews arrive before giving enough money, people in southern Africa will pay the price of their neglect.'' — AP

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