In Southern Madagascar, 'Nothing to Feed Our Children'

A view of a village in southern Madagascar's Ambovombe region, November 9, 2017. Thomson Reuters Foundation/Sally Hayden
A view of a village in southern Madagascar's Ambovombe region, November 9, 2017. Thomson Reuters Foundation/Sally Hayden
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In Southern Madagascar, 'Nothing to Feed Our Children'

A view of a village in southern Madagascar's Ambovombe region, November 9, 2017. Thomson Reuters Foundation/Sally Hayden
A view of a village in southern Madagascar's Ambovombe region, November 9, 2017. Thomson Reuters Foundation/Sally Hayden

"It´s the hunger that killed him," the grieving mother said.

In this village in Madagascar´s extreme south, the 31-year-old Lasinatry lost her 3-year-old boy in June as hunger swept the region, more severe than in recent years.

"We, the parents, have nothing to feed our children aside from tamarind and the cactus that we find around us," she said.

On a visit this week, The Associated Press spoke with suffering families who are among the 1.5 million people in need of emergency food assistance, according to the UN World Food Program. It's a consequence of three straight years of drought, along with historic neglect by the government of the remote region as well as the COVID-19 pandemic.

Mothers are now trying to feed their children with unripe mangoes, and with tamarind mixed with clay. Many children have the spindly legs, reddish hair, and pot bellies of malnourishment. Tired, they rest under trees and no longer play.

After reports emerged of at least eight children dying, the president of this Indian Ocean island nation, Andry Rajoelina, visited the region and vowed to "win the war against malnutrition."

Some food has been distributed, but the WFP said it´s not enough and residents said the handouts last just a few days. The WFP said it has enough supplies to help just a half-million people through the end of this year

Southern Madagascar is on the brink of a humanitarian disaster, the UN agency said, and three out of four children in the Amboasary district at the epicenter of the crisis have left school to help their parents find food.

Farmers said they can no longer cultivate because of lack of rain, and they have given up cattle farming because of theft. Some villagers said they have sold their most basic possessions - cooking pots, clothes, school notebooks - for food.

Some people now cut down trees to make charcoal, acknowledging that worsens the drought but saying they have no choice if they want to survive.

One mother, Toharano, said four of her 14 children died in June and July.

"Who can support not eating in the morning, midday and night?" she asked, exhausted by hunger and the heat. "The children wake in the night, hungry."

The names of the dead are kept in a notebook held by the village leader, Refanampy.

"We´re used to famine, but this time it´s just too much," he said. "Before this, we didn´t have people dying (of hunger) in our village."

The river Mandrare, which traverses the region, is now dry. Ten-year-old Masy Toasy walked in the direction of men who dug into the sand in search of water.

"It´s here that we tried to grow sweet potatoes, but they´re all dead," the girl said. On the other side of the river is her school, but she said her parents have sold her notebooks to buy a little rice.

"Residents have no more resources to allow them to face this crisis," said Theodore Mbainaissem with WFP, who said the extent of the hunger caught humanitarians and authorities by surprise.

And with COVID-19 and restrictions imposed to slow its spread, residents of this hungry region couldn't go elsewhere to find work, Mbainaissem said. Those restrictions have now been lifted.

"For now," he said, "the only solution is to aid them by bringing in enough food for the months to come."



Senior Israeli Army Officer among Suspects in ‘Leaks Scandal’

 A photo published by Israeli Channel 12 of the central suspect in the leaks case.
 A photo published by Israeli Channel 12 of the central suspect in the leaks case.
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Senior Israeli Army Officer among Suspects in ‘Leaks Scandal’

 A photo published by Israeli Channel 12 of the central suspect in the leaks case.
 A photo published by Israeli Channel 12 of the central suspect in the leaks case.

The arrest of a new senior army officer involved in a suspected leak of classified Gaza documents has sparked a wave of political controversy and public outcry in Israeli politics.
In the past few days, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and some individuals close to him tried to downplay the so-called “leaks scandal” and portrayed it as “just an ordinary incitement against the PM.”
But on Monday, an Israeli army officer was arrested by police investigators as part of the probe into leaked classified documents from the Prime Minister’s Office.
Hebrew media reports said the officer was relaxing with his wife and children in a hotel in the southern city of Eilat, when a force of masked policemen raided the place, arrested him, and took him to an investigation room in the Tel Aviv area without providing further information.
Observers suggest this officer is one of the security personnel who leaked and falsified documents from the military to compromise efforts to secure the release of Israeli hostages held by Hamas.
The arrest is the fifth so far in the high-profile investigation. The five suspects include a civilian spokesman from Netanyahu's circle and four members of the security establishment.
Hebrew media outlets on Monday uncovered new information about the central suspect in the case, Eli Feldstein, the only person whose name was allowed to be published. Feldstein has previously worked for National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir. He then worked as a spokesman for Netanyahu from soon after the Hamas attack in southern Israel in October 2023.
According to people close to the investigation, one of the tasks assigned to Feldstein in the PM’s office was to “share with various media outlets security information that serves Netanyahu.”
Feldstein is suspected of receiving secret documents from army officers and then sharing them with a false interpretation to both the German Bild newspaper and the UK’s Jewish Chronicle, which are both close to Netanyahu and his wife.
The scandal started when details from a secret document were published by the German Bild newspaper on Sept. 6.
The report cited a document captured in Gaza indicating that Hamas’s main concern in ceasefire negotiations with Israel was to rehabilitate its military capabilities, and not to alleviate the suffering of Gaza’s civilian population. Bild said it had obtained the spring 2024 document exclusively, without offering further details. It said the document was found on a computer in Gaza that belonged to now-slain Hamas leader Sinwar.
Around the same time, Jewish Chronicle published a report saying that Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar planned to smuggle hostages through the Philadelphi Corridor to Egypt.
Netanyahu has used those reports to justify his control over the Philadelphi Corridor along Gaza's border with Egypt and to thwart the hostages deal.
In the past days, the scandal has provoked sharp criticism from opposition leaders and the families of hostages.
The independent media said it highlighted “the corruption that knows no bounds” in the Netanyahu government.
Yossi Verter wrote in the Haaretz newspaper that, “Recent scandals among those in Netanyahu's inner circle reveal the nature of his entourage – a crime organization that places him above the country and national security concerns.”
Speaking about the main suspect in the case, Feldstein, Verter wrote, “The new star, burning with motivation to prove himself, quickly adapted to the office's corrupt semi-criminal atmosphere, its moral and ethical decay and its culture of lies, manipulation, and disinformation.”
At the Maariv newspaper, Shimon Hefetz, a colonel in the army reserve and military secretary to three Israeli presidents, spoke on Monday at the 29th anniversary of the assassination of Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, saying: “(The assassination) will forever be a shocking day for Israeli democracy, as it is happening in the Prime Minister's office today.”