JOHANNESBURG/LUSAKA, 1 October 2005 — The cries for help from southern Africa are becoming increasingly desperate as a deadly combination of drought, HIV-AIDS, poverty and mismanagement has put 10.7 million people at risk of a several food crisis.
Reports are already emerging of children in Malawi dying from malnutrition and resulting illnesses.
The United Nations estimates around $200 million are needed to resolve the crisis in Malawi, but the response of donors has been miserly.
“The Malawi appeal is falling on deaf ears,” a spokeswoman with UN children’s agency UNICEF complained.
In countries such as Angola and Zambia emergency supplies from the UN World Food Program have been drastically reduced. Relief organizations such as Oxfam and Germany’s Diakonie Katastrophenhilfe are warning against the failure to heed early warnings of a developing catastrophe, as happened in Niger in July.