Africa

Ethiopia faces a new food crisis

by Edmund Sanders Los Angeles Times August 5, 2008

Four-foot cornstalks sprout from rain-soaked earth, and wind billows fields of teff, the staple Ethiopian grain. Goats and cattle are getting fat on lush grasses -- but the children are still dying. "It's strange to see hunger when everything is so green," said Wariso Shete, 26, a southern Ethiop...

Although there will be a crop this year, there is little food due to past drought.  In every Ethiopian village visited there were vulnerable children, many with distended stomachs, one sign of extreme hunger. Photo: BBC

Desperation as Ethiopia’s hunger grows

by Gavin Hewitt BBC News June 8, 2008

It is a strange and unsettling ride west from the Ethiopian town of Shashamene. The fields are vibrant green. There is water in the creeks. The soil is a deep rich burgundy. However, the people here speak of a "green drought". It is the time when the land is full of new shoots but there is no...

U.S. Africa Command trims its aspirations. Nations loath to host force; aid groups resisted military plan to take on relief work

by Karen DeYoung Washington Post June 1, 2008

The U.S. Africa Command, designed to boost America's image and prevent terrorist inroads on the continent, has scaled back its ambitions after African governments refused to host it and aid groups protested plans to expand the military's role in economic development in the region. ...

In postwar Liberia, paradise amid the poverty: feelings mixed as aid workers live well

by Craig Timberg Washington Post June 1, 2008

MONROVIA, Liberia -- The second sushi bar to open in ragged postwar Liberia did not settle for having its chefs wear simple T-shirts, or for serving $25 worth of sliced fish on plain white plates....

South African violence against immigrants fed by post-apartheid poverty

by Craig Timberg Washington Post May 27, 2008

RAMAPHOSA INFORMAL SETTLEMENT, South Africa -- This was the kind of place that was not supposed to exist in the new South Africa. All black. All poor. Dense, squalid, dirty, angry -- with charred patches of earth where men once stood. ...

Six million Ethiopian children at risk of malnutrition as crops fail and prices rise

by Xan Rice The Guardian May 21, 2008

Up to 6 million children under the age of five are at risk of malnutrition in Ethiopia because of rising cereal prices and the failure of rains, the UN's children agency, Unicef, has warned....

The global food crisis has arrived at Safia Ali’s hut. She cannot afford rice or wheat or powdered milk anymore. At the same time, a drought has decimated her family’s herd of goats, turning their sole livelihood into a pile of bleached bones and papery skin. The result is that Ms. Safia, a 25-year-old mother of five, has not eaten in a week. Her 1-year-old son is starving too, an adorable, listless boy who doesn’t even respond to a pinch. Photo: Jehad Nga/New York Times

Famine looms as wars rend Horn of Africa

by Jeffrey Gettleman New York Times May 17, 2008

DAGAARI, Somalia — The global food crisis has arrived at Safia Ali’s hut. She cannot afford rice or wheat or powdered milk anymore. At the same time, a drought has decimated her family’s herd of goats, turning their sole livelihood into a pile of bleached bones and papery skin....

Kenya began an operation on Monday to resettle people displaced after the crisis that followed December’s disputed election. Photo: Guillaume Bonn/NYT

Kenyan government starts returning people displaced by violence to their homes and land–many still fearful for their safety

by Jeffrey Gettleman New York Times May 6, 2008

MOLO, Kenya — The bus was full. Expectant faces pressed against the windows. Soldiers stood guard with their guns. It was time to go home. “I’m ready,” said Dominick Ngigi, an 80-year-old farmer, stoically clutching a plastic bag with no more in it than a sweater and a flashlight....

World Bank again accused of tolerating corruption in Kenya

by Bank Information Center April 13, 2008

See Report...

AFRICOM will focus on military training and counter-terrorism Photo: CJTF-HOA

AFRICOM to focus on military, not humanitarian role

by IRIN News March 14, 2008

In a key briefing to Congress on 13 March, General William “Kip” Ward, head of the US Command for Africa, AFRICOM, devoted only 15 seconds of his four-and-a-half minute opening remarks to a possible humanitarian role. ...

  • World Hunger Education
    Service
    P.O. Box 29015
    Washington, D.C. 20017
  • For the past 50 years, since its founding in 1976, the mission of World Hunger Education Service is to undertake programs, including Hunger Notes, that
    • Educate the general public and target groups about the extent and causes of hunger and malnutrition in the United States and the world
    • Advance comprehension which integrates ethical, religious, social, economic, political, and scientific perspectives on the world food problem
    • Facilitate communication and networking among those who are working for solutions
    • Promote individual and collective commitments to sustainable hunger solutions.