Canada gives $41M to West Africa famine victims

Canada is giving $41 million to help stop a famine in West Africa.

International Co-operation Minister Bev Oda says the impending food security and nutrition crisis in the Sahel is a great concern.

The semi-arid belt spans Africa along the southern Sahara Desert and some greener lands to the south.

Its western span has been ravaged by a severe drought that threatens to dwarf last year’s famine in East Africa.

The United Nations and other major international bodies are warning of a famine that could affect 23 million people across Niger, Mali, Chad, Burkina Faso and Mauritania unless a major global rescue effort is mounted.

The world’s aid agencies are still reeling from last year’s full-blown famine further east in the Horn of Africa that killed tens of thousands and affected almost 10 billion in four countries, including Ethiopia and Somalia.

Oda says Canada will continue to monitor the developing situation closely.

“Clearly, the people in the Sahel region are in need of help to face their unimaginable reality. Canada is deeply concerned about the impending food security and nutrition crisis in the Sahel,” Oda said in a statement.

“We must act now with help for millions of people struggling to meet their immediate basic food security and nutrition needs to avoid a more tragic situation later.”

The money will help provide food and nutrition assistance, agriculture support, water, sanitation, basic health care, logistics and co-ordination, and protection in some of the most difficult environments in the world.

Aid groups applauded the move.

“I just returned from Mali today to learn of the government’s announcement — this couldn’t come at a more critical time,” World Vision president Dave Toycen said in an email.

“The children and families I met and communities I visited in West Africa are clearly suffering the effects of the current food crisis. It’s a perfect storm of continuing drought, high food prices and crippling poverty.”

Patricia Erb of Save the Children says it’s important to respond quickly to the impending crisis.

“Quicker responses to early warning signs of drought and hunger crises is vitally important if we are to save the lives of children,” she said in a statement.

“Save the Children and Oxfam recently co-authored a report Dangerous Delays which called on governments and NGOs to learn the lessons of East Africa and we are pleased that today the Canadian government is one of the first major donors to respond.”