UN: Niger food crisis worse than 2005
Niger's food crisis is already worse than the last emergency in 2005 but the West African nation is better prepared to face it, in part due to better government cooperation, the UN aid chief said. John Holmes was speaking on Wednesday at the end of a trip to uranium-producing Niger, where at least 7.8 million people, or nearly 60 percent of the population, will be threatened with severe food shortages this year.
"My impression is that (the food crisis) is worse but the good thing is that the alarm is sounded earlier and we are better prepared than in 2005," Holmes told Reuters. "The government is extremely cooperative and is not in denial, as was the case with the past administration." (Reuters)
