Cairo (Al Ittihad)
Yesterday, the Secretary-General of the League of Arab States, Ahmed Aboul Gheit, warned of the serious impact of the conflict in Sudan on Arab food security, as the fighting led to the disruption of agricultural projects, the cessation of transportation of goods, the damage of large quantities of them and the increase in their prices.
Aboul Gheit said, during his reception at the headquarters of the General Secretariat, Ibrahim Al-Dakhiri, Director General of the Arab Organization for Agricultural Development, that these dangerous conditions require rapid action at the Arab and international levels.
Jamal Rushdi, the official spokesman for the Secretary-General, stated that Aboul Gheit listened to the briefing given by Al-Dakhiri on the developments in the situation and the status of the Sudanese agricultural sector.
He also discussed the outlines of the plan to save the Sudanese agricultural season prepared by the Arab Organization for Agricultural Development, in cooperation with the General Secretariat of the League, and aims to secure trade and supply chains for grains and food products.
The spokesman said that the prepared rescue plan aims mainly at enabling Sudanese farmers to export their commodities locally and in neighboring countries. Aboul Gheit directed the formation of a committee from the membership of the Arab Organization for Agricultural Development and the concerned sectors of the General Secretariat and the Permanent Delegation of Sudan to the League of Arab States and the relevant Arab and international bodies, in implementation of the decisions of the Arab summit regarding the files of Sudan and Arab food security.
The meeting dealt with a number of other issues related to the difficulties facing the banking and transportation sectors in Sudan, as well as the implementation of the Arab strategy for food security and others.
Aboul Gheit’s warnings came a day after the United Nations World Food Program confirmed the need for additional funding to help millions of people in West and Central Africa get through the coming months known as the “lean season”.
WFP said the current cash crisis means it will not be able to assist just over half of the 11.6 million people targeted by an emergency food operation in countries such as Burkina Faso, Nigeria and Chad, where an influx of refugees from Sudan has further strained its limited resources.
Conflict and rising prices have contributed to increasing food insecurity to the highest level in a decade in West and Central Africa, according to an analysis by regional food security group Cadre Harmonies in March. Malnutrition rates have also risen, the program said, with 16.5 million children under the age of five expected to be severely malnourished this year.
The program is seeking $794 million to respond appropriately to needs in the G5 Sahel countries of Burkina Faso, Chad, Mali, Mauritania and Niger from July to December.
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