West Africa: Act Now and save thousands of Lives - UN by AFP / Independent Online 11:52am 30th Mar, 2006   29.3.2006 (Sapa-AFP)    Dakar - The United Nations on Tuesday launched an appeal for $92-million to help meet the food needs of four West African countries where 300 000 children could die of hunger this year if no urgent measures are taken.    The World Food Programme"s assistant director, Christine van Nieuwenhuyse, told a conference in Dakar that Niger, Burkina Faso, Mauritania and Mali "are faced with an emergency which needs short term responses, but also long term".    "This year, malnutrition will be the cause of death for more than 300 000 children in the Sahel if the necessary measures are not taken in time," said Theophane Nikyema, the deputy director of the UN Children"s Fund"s regional office.    "We need the resources immediately," she said. "We cannot wait for thousands of people, the majority of them women and children, to die of hunger or malnutrition to react," said the UN Special Representative for West Africa, Ahmedou Ould-Abdallah.    In the absence of a good harvest, the Sahel countries are bracing for a difficult lean season this year running from April to October, said the UN.    "Many households are already vulnerable due to the impact of past crises, For example, many are still paying off debts incurred during last year"s crisis," said the UN in a statement published in Dakar on Tuesday.    The appeal comprises 22 projects conceived by eight UN and aid organisations and envisage the creation of cereal banks, free food distribution, public food-for-work schemes, as well as the coverage of medical and nutritional needs of children.
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