Nearly 50 Mln Facing Hunger in West, Central Africa as Conflict Spreads

Workers pile sacks of cocoa beans at the warehouse of a cocoa cooperative in the village of Hermankono on November 14, 2023. (AFP)
Workers pile sacks of cocoa beans at the warehouse of a cocoa cooperative in the village of Hermankono on November 14, 2023. (AFP)
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Nearly 50 Mln Facing Hunger in West, Central Africa as Conflict Spreads

Workers pile sacks of cocoa beans at the warehouse of a cocoa cooperative in the village of Hermankono on November 14, 2023. (AFP)
Workers pile sacks of cocoa beans at the warehouse of a cocoa cooperative in the village of Hermankono on November 14, 2023. (AFP)

A record 49.5 million people are expected to go hungry in West and Central Africa next year due to a combination of conflict, climate change and high food prices, the United Nations said on Tuesday.

The figure is 4% higher than in 2023. In coastal countries, the number of people facing acute hunger is expected to reach 6.2 million in 2024, up 16% from this year, according to a new regional food security analysis released by the UN World Food Program (WFP) and other humanitarian agencies.

"Acute hunger remains at record levels in the region, yet funding needed to respond is not keeping pace," said Margot Vandervelden, WFP's acting regional director for Western Africa.

"Insufficient funding means the moderately hungry will be forced to skip meals and consume less nutritious food, putting them at risk of falling back into crisis or emergency phases, perpetuating the cycle of hunger and malnutrition," she said.

More than two out of three households in West and Central Africa cannot afford healthy diets, the analysis found.

The cost of a daily nutritious diet in the central Sahel countries Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger is 110% higher than the daily minimum wage in the region, it said.

Sahel countries are facing an extremist insurgency that has displaced some four million people from their homes and farms, according to UN figures. Democratic Republic of Congo also has multiple ongoing conflicts that have displaced nearly seven million.

The Sahel crisis has pushed people to seek refuge in neighboring coastal countries such as Ivory Coast, Togo and Ghana, which is grappling with its worst economic crisis in a generation.

"Almost 80% of people who are currently in a difficult food situation are in areas affected by conflict," said Ollo Sib, a senior research adviser for the WFP.

He warned that without intervention, the situation could deteriorate further in certain areas as over 2.6 million people were at risk of falling into famine.



Biden Is Laying Low at the White House on Election Day

US President Joe Biden points a finger as he delivers remarks on the administration's continued drawdown efforts in Afghanistan in a speech from the East Room at the White House in Washington US, July 8, 2021. (Reuters)
US President Joe Biden points a finger as he delivers remarks on the administration's continued drawdown efforts in Afghanistan in a speech from the East Room at the White House in Washington US, July 8, 2021. (Reuters)
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Biden Is Laying Low at the White House on Election Day

US President Joe Biden points a finger as he delivers remarks on the administration's continued drawdown efforts in Afghanistan in a speech from the East Room at the White House in Washington US, July 8, 2021. (Reuters)
US President Joe Biden points a finger as he delivers remarks on the administration's continued drawdown efforts in Afghanistan in a speech from the East Room at the White House in Washington US, July 8, 2021. (Reuters)

US President Joe Biden has no public appearances on his schedule and his press secretary, Karine Jean-Pierre, won’t be holding her typical daily briefing on Tuesday.

Biden made his final campaign appearance on Saturday when he delivered a speech to laborers on behalf of the Harris-Walz campaign in Scranton, Pennsylvania.

He hasn’t taken a question from reporters since gaggling at an event in Baltimore last Tuesday.

Later that same day, Biden created an uproar in remarks to Latino activists when he responded to racist comments at a Trump rally made by the comedian Tony Hinchcliffe, who referred to the US island territory of Puerto Rico as a “floating island of garbage.”

Biden, according to a transcript prepared by the official White House stenographers, told the Latino group on a Tuesday evening video call, “The only garbage I see floating out there is his supporters — his — his demonization of Latinos is unconscionable, and it’s un-American.”

The dizzying presidential contest between Republican Donald Trump and Democrat Kamala Harris hurtled toward an uncertain finish on Tuesday as millions of Americans headed to the polls to choose between two sharply different visions for the country.

A race churned by unprecedented events – two assassination attempts against Trump, Biden's surprise withdrawal and Harris' rapid rise – remained neck and neck as Election Day dawned, even after billions of dollars in spending and months of frenetic campaigning.