IRIN, the news service of the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, reports from West Africa on the worsening food security situation in Mali, which is complicated by civil conflict.
DAKAR, 15 February 2012 (IRIN) – Aid workers are facing a trio of challenges in northern Mali: extensive drought-induced food insecurity and pasture shortages; conflict between Tuaregs and the Malian army; and the resulting displacement of thousands more Tuaregs, say aid agencies on the ground.
The country has some three million people who are predicted to be vulnerable to severe food insecurity, and is one of eight Sahelian states facing food insecurity this year due to a mixture of poor 2011 rains, region-wide high food prices, chronic vulnerability and poverty.
“All expectations are that the current security crisis will make food insecurity worse,” said Mali country director for Catholic Relief Services, Timothy Bishop.
In its latest February Sahel strategy, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) in West Africa estimates over 10 million people will be food insecure this year, unless they receive help soon.
Among the seven affected areas – Kayes, Kouklikoro, Ségou, Mopti, Sikasso, Timbuktu and Gao – the latter two have seen fighting between Tuareg group Movement National pour la Liberation de l’Azawad (MNLA) and the Malian army.
CRS is preparing to respond, but warns that even more must be done to meet the urgent needs in Mali.
CRS is scaling up to distribute food to 125,000 in the Mopti region but this will cover just a small part of Mopti’s overall needs, said Bishop. “There is no doubt that all aid agency interventions are going to be insufficient and the government of Mali will need to step up its reaction,” he said.
