The pain of hunger in Africa

The fortunes of the continent are being lost in plunder and purchasing weapons

The pain of hunger in Africa

In a time where the black continent is tasting the pain of hunger, which is increasing these days to become the worst in 60 years, there are countries that consume a huge amount of foodstuff.

About 100 wedding ceremonies are set daily in India where thousands of tons of surplus food are thrown daily in the garbage.

In USA and England, the daily thrown food is almost enough to feed more than one billion people!

FAO warned against the deterioration of food security status in the horn of Africa. In 2009, the organization published a serious report in CNN where it confirmed the aggravation of the crisis due to low rainfall, in addition to the continuation of disputes and demographic vagrancy.

The organization expected increasing the number of 20.000.000 persons who depend on food aid in that region of the world most of them are: farmers, shepherds, and the residents of urban areas of low-income people.

According to the site of the organization, the number of hungry people shall increase by "El Nino" phenomenon which is warm marine currents usually followed by heavy rains prior to the end of the agricultural season which will cause destruction in yields and storages of food due to flows, floods, mudslides due to rains.

Although the fluctuation in the prices of corn which is the main source in the region, prices are still reasonable.

The exports of some countries from corn have raised but that did not reflect on the population and the low purchasing power of individuals shall make things worse.

The organization mentioned that the conditions of shepherds, for example, is getting worse due to the lack of pasture, the exacerbation of cattle conditions and depriving them of the opportunities of marketing at good prices, which leads to undermining income standards and the capacity of obtaining food.

Most countries in the Horn of Africa are witnessing consecutive years of bad seasons along with the decline of their crops due to rains and floods.

Moreover, the organization mentioned that Somalia is experiencing its worst humanitarian crisis in 18 years where half of the total population approximately 3.6 million people are in urgent need to emergency aid to save their lives and livelihoods.

Today as part of the rescue operation, EU provides 18 million Euros. On the other hand, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations "FAO" has supplied high quality seeds to 100,000 farms of the most vulnerable groups in Burkina Faso.

The global system of early warning of the organization said that the food situations arouse concern and fear in parts of the coastal and desert areas, where more than 10 million people are facing hunger. It added that the fewness of rain in Burkina Faso caused the decrease of grain last year by 17%.

The expert Jean-Pierre Rincn, the coordinator of emergency operations at the "FAO", stated that the drought would increase the destabilizing of food security after the rise in food prices.

He also denoted that the organization began the distribution of improved seeds to one hundred thousand farmers in preparation for the next season; which will benefit about 700.000, expecting that the "FAO" operations shall promote food security levels for more than 860.000 rural households; i.e., more than 6 million people on average.

The objective is to enhance food production through the development of improved seeds available to the needy farmers, and encourage seed multiplication operations on a sustainable basis and documenting their origin.

Rincn showed that the possibility of high-productive areas to compensate the less-productive areas which lack of seeds and face food insecurity.

Therefore, a part of production will go to high-risk areas to meet the deficits, where 12.400.000 persons are fighting hunger in Somalia, Ethiopia, Kenya and Djibouti. These countries need more international aid to stand in front of hunger and drought, which is the severest in 60 years.

Somalia is considered the most affected African country where a quarter of the people have left their homes heading to the aid camps in Kenya and Ethiopia.

The United Nations announced that it needs one billion and 600.000 dollars to feed hungry people in Africa.

On the other hand, Turkey asked the Organization of the Islamic Conference urgently to examine the situation in Africa, whereas the civil society organizations in Turkey continue to collect aid and send them to refugees' camps in Somalia and Kenya.

The important question remains: Were the policies of aid pursued by the developed countries the cause of the problem of famine in Africa? Africa used to export food in the sixties and seventies of the last century, did that happen?!

The world is required to reveal the Israeli and Western plans which are set against the African continent, and the systematic plunder of wealth as well as revealing the Western hypocrisy which speaks in the conferences of donating countries about giving aid to the countries of equals 2.500.000 billion dollars while the estimated volume of the annual looted wealth of the continent's minerals, gold, gas, energy, and uranium equals tens of billions of dollars.

Perhaps the worst is that the financial and humanitarian aid provided to the continent are robbed by the armed gangs which subject to the Western companies to buy weapons, arm the conflicting parties, and push the continent for more civil wars.

In the same context, this aid turns the African man to a mere beggar who cannot develop himself, control his resources, or possess power to restore his wealth from looters and thieves.

So, is it doomed for Africa to remain a black and hungry continent which cannot manage its resources and does not succeed in detecting its looters and thieves?!