Millions of refugees and displaced people in Africa's Sahel region face severe hunger as food rations are being cut by up to half in some areas because of a funding shortfall, UN agencies said on Friday.
The hunger crisis is the worst since 2014 and is the result of factors ranging from the war in Ukraine to climate change and regional conflicts, officials said.
The Office for the Co-ordination of Humanitarian Affairs (Ocha) estimates that about 18 million people face severe food insecurity in the next three months across the Sahel — the arid belt that stretches across Africa immediately south of the Sahara.
Ocha spokesman Jens Laerke said the agency's $3.8 billion appeal for the region was less than 12 per cent funded.
The situation has reached alarming levels in Burkina Faso, Chad, Mali and Niger, where nearly 1.7 million people will experience emergency levels of food insecurity during the lean season between June and August, he said in Geneva.
Tomson Phiri, spokesman for the UN’s World Food Programme, said parts of the Sahel have had their worst harvests in more than a decade, and food shortages could worsen as the lean season arrives in late summer.
In Burkina Faso, rations are currently at 75 per cent in areas that are hard to reach and the most food insecure, and 50 per cent at other sites, the WFP said.
The WFP said rations, already been cut by half for displaced people and refugees in Chad, would be reduced further from July if more funding is not received.
The situation is definitely going to get worse before it gets better
Tomson Phiri,
World Food Programme spokesman
In Mauritania, the food component of the food-cash ration is being cut by 50 per cent at Mbera camp, it said.
"Why is it as bad now? We have conflict in the West African region, you have Covid still raging, you have climate-induced shocks, you have rising costs which are all colliding to put basic needs out of reach for millions of people," Mr Phiri said.
“The situation is definitely going to get worse before it gets better,” he said. “We may see more people trying to make ends meet by migrating. It’s a very, very likely possibility.”
Many people from the region are among migrants who travel north to Europe in hopes of economic opportunity, more stability and safety.
“A combination of violence, insecurity, deep poverty and record-high food prices is exacerbating malnutrition and driving millions to the fringes of survival,” said Martin Griffiths, the head of Ocha.
“The recent spike in food prices driven by the conflict between Russia and Ukraine is threatening to turn a food security crisis into a humanitarian disaster,” he said.
The two countries are key producers of wheat, barley and other agricultural products, and the conflict has almost entirely halted exports through the Black Sea.
Mr Griffiths’ office is releasing $30m from its emergency relief fund for the four African countries.
With reporting from agencies.
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Who: UAE v USA
What: first T20 international
When: Friday, 2pm
Where: ICC Academy in Dubai
Benefits of first-time home buyers' scheme
- Priority access to new homes from participating developers
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Mohammed bin Zayed Majlis
COMPANY PROFILE
Name: Cofe
Year started: 2018
Based: UAE
Employees: 80-100
Amount raised: $13m
Investors: KISP ventures, Cedar Mundi, Towell Holding International, Takamul Capital, Dividend Gate Capital, Nizar AlNusif Sons Holding, Arab Investment Company and Al Imtiaz Investment Group
PROFILE OF SWVL
Started: April 2017
Founders: Mostafa Kandil, Ahmed Sabbah and Mahmoud Nouh
Based: Cairo, Egypt
Sector: transport
Size: 450 employees
Investment: approximately $80 million
Investors include: Dubai’s Beco Capital, US’s Endeavor Catalyst, China’s MSA, Egypt’s Sawari Ventures, Sweden’s Vostok New Ventures, Property Finder CEO Michael Lahyani
COMPANY%20PROFILE
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Our family matters legal consultant
Name: Hassan Mohsen Elhais
Position: legal consultant with Al Rowaad Advocates and Legal Consultants.
UK's plans to cut net migration
Under the UK government’s proposals, migrants will have to spend 10 years in the UK before being able to apply for citizenship.
Skilled worker visas will require a university degree, and there will be tighter restrictions on recruitment for jobs with skills shortages.
But what are described as "high-contributing" individuals such as doctors and nurses could be fast-tracked through the system.
Language requirements will be increased for all immigration routes to ensure a higher level of English.
Rules will also be laid out for adult dependants, meaning they will have to demonstrate a basic understanding of the language.
The plans also call for stricter tests for colleges and universities offering places to foreign students and a reduction in the time graduates can remain in the UK after their studies from two years to 18 months.
ORDER OF PLAY ON SHOW COURTS
Centre Court - 4pm (UAE)
Gael Monfils (15) v Kyle Edmund
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Jebel Ali results
2pm: Handicap (PA) Dh 50,000 (Dirt) 1,400m
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Winner: Shamikh, Ryan Curatolo, Nicholas Bachalard
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Winner: Gabr, Sam Hitchcott, Doug Watson
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Company profile
Date started: Founded in May 2017 and operational since April 2018
Founders: co-founder and chief executive, Doaa Aref; Dr Rasha Rady, co-founder and chief operating officer.
Based: Cairo, Egypt
Sector: Health-tech
Size: 22 employees
Funding: Seed funding
Investors: Flat6labs, 500 Falcons, three angel investors
PULITZER PRIZE 2020 WINNERS
JOURNALISM
Public Service
Anchorage Daily News in collaboration with ProPublica
Breaking News Reporting
Staff of The Courier-Journal, Louisville, Ky.
Investigative Reporting
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T. Christian Miller, Megan Rose and Robert Faturechi of ProPublica
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Audio Reporting
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LETTERS AND DRAMA
Fiction
"The Nickel Boys" by Colson Whitehead (Doubleday)
Drama
"A Strange Loop" by Michael R. Jackson
History
"Sweet Taste of Liberty: A True Story of Slavery and Restitution in America" by W. Caleb McDaniel (Oxford University Press)
Biography
"Sontag: Her Life and Work" by Benjamin Moser (Ecco/HarperCollins)
Poetry
"The Tradition" by Jericho Brown (Copper Canyon Press)
General Nonfiction
"The Undying: Pain, Vulnerability, Mortality, Medicine, Art, Time, Dreams, Data, Exhaustion, Cancer, and Care" by Anne Boyer (Farrar, Straus and Giroux)
and
"The End of the Myth: From the Frontier to the Border Wall in the Mind of America" by Greg Grandin (Metropolitan Books)
Music
"The Central Park Five" by Anthony Davis, premiered by Long Beach Opera on June 15, 2019
Special Citation
Ida B. Wells
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'The Last Days of Ptolemy Grey'
Rating: 3/5
Directors: Ramin Bahrani, Debbie Allen, Hanelle Culpepper, Guillermo Navarro
Writers: Walter Mosley
Stars: Samuel L Jackson, Dominique Fishback, Walton Goggins
SNAPSHOT
While Huawei did launch the first smartphone with a 50MP image sensor in its P40 series in 2020, Oppo in 2014 introduced the Find 7, which was capable of taking 50MP images: this was done using a combination of a 13MP sensor and software that resulted in shots seemingly taken from a 50MP camera.
