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<strong>NEWS</strong> FOCUS: MALI ‘MANy pEOpLE ArE FACINg rEAL StArvAtION hErE’ As we step up our west Africa emergency appeal, Christian Aid’s head of media Andrew Hogg reports from Mali on how the west Africa food crisis is being exacerbated by the insurgency that has driven hundreds of thousands of people from their homes Christian Aid/tom pilston Djougal Tapily with the bowl of millet which is the daily ration for two adults AppeArAnces in MAli are deceptive. it’s a country in the grip of a food crisis, yet fields on either side of the road heading north from the capital Bamako are lush with newly grown crops of maize, millet and okra. Mango trees abound, alongside baobabs, valued for their fruit pulp which makes a porridge high in vitamin c, as well as karite trees – called shea in english – which bear nuts that provide cooking oil. roadside stalls boast bananas, guavas and aubergines, while fishermen in pirogues – small, flat-bottomed boats – can be seen on the broad, dun-coloured waters of the river niger, or one of its major tributaries, the Bani. However, the further one journeys towards the front line with the north of the country – largely desert and now in the hands of islamist rebels and Tuareg secessionists – the sparser the vegetation, and the hungrier the people. lack of rains last year across the sahel, that part of west Africa lying just south of the sahara, resulted in poor harvests that sparked higher prices for staples such as millet, which have left 19 million people across the region dependent on food aid. The situation was already perilous when the rains failed; a food crisis in 2010 had left more than 10 million facing shortages. in Mali, some 4.6 million people are now in need, with the poor harvest just part of the problem. The rebellion in the north earlier this year, following an army coup in the capital, displaced hundreds of thousands of people, disrupting food supplies and agricultural production. Many fled across Mali’s borders with Mauritania, niger and Burkina Faso, adding to the food crisis those countries were already experiencing, while the Un estimates that more than 300,000 made their way south into government-held territory, many descending on relatives 10 Christian Aid News
christian aid/tom pilston or friends who already faced shortages of their own. Aid in Mali provided by Christian Aid partners GRAT and APH, which has so far reached some 50,000 people, takes the form of rice and cereal distribution, cash transfers, cash-for-work programmes and the provision of seeds for market gardening. Working through Norwegian Church Aid (an ACT Alliance partner), Christian Aid has also provided £50,000 for the supply of food to people in remote villages in the region around the northern town of Gao, which is in the hands of an Islamist faction. Several shipments of food have been sent from the south to Gao by pinasse – long wooden cargo boats that ply the River Niger – where they are taken by lorry to distribution points, with donkey carts making the last part of the journey. Christian Aid country manager Yacouba Kone said it is too early to tell whether this year’s rains will produce a harvest plentiful enough to fill the grain stores. ‘The fields may look as if they are full of food – the rains so far this year have been good – but the harvest is still months away and meanwhile the granaries are bare, and people are struggling,’ he said. ‘A 100kg sack of rice last year cost 30,000 West African francs. Now the price is 50,000. Poverty here is entrenched and only a few can afford the fruit and vegetables you see for sale. In recent years the level of the Niger has also fallen, badly hitting fish stocks.’ He reels off a grim litany of other factors affecting food supplies. These Adiarorkoye Habra Toure fled with her children when insurgents came to their home include the fact that when the rains come they are more intense than they used to be, leading to flooding that washes away valuable soil. Agricultural resources are in short supply. Many subsistence farmers have flocked to towns looking for work, leading to a labour shortage in the fields, and some of the best farms beside the Niger are now in the hands of major foreign concerns – including the government of China – growing food for its own people. Locusts are another threat. Conflict in the north has disrupted eradication programmes, giving new swarms a chance to breed unchecked, with devastating results. In Konna, one of the northernmost towns in Mali still in government hands, several families a day still cross from the rebel area, often with nothing but the clothes they wear. Some have been forced out by insurgents, others have left through fear. Sexual abuse of women has reportedly been widespread, while men suspected of being in the military have been taken away and not seen again. GRAT is focusing distribution on the most vulnerable, with some 50 tonnes of rice and cereal, and 10 tonnes of seed going to the internally displaced and to families hosting them. West Africa emergency appeal Adiarorkoye Habra Toure, a mother of four from Douentza, 100km beyond Konna, was at home with her family when the rebels came, demanding the key to her brother-in-law’s motorcycle. ‘When he didn’t hand it over he was beaten in front of us. My children were terrified,’ she said. Leaving her schoolteacher husband behind, she and her children fled by bus, running the gauntlet of a series of rebel checkpoints where the bus and belongings of passengers were picked through for valuables. Mohamdou Coulibaly, a logistician with a non-governmental organisation, from Gao, said rebels who took the town quickly established a strict Islamic code. Women had to wear the veil and could not be seen out in the company of men. They were forbidden from driving cars, and watching television was banned. In Socoura, several kilometres south of Konna, Mayor Zeine Diallo said: ‘Many people are facing real starvation here. Rice and seed have been distributed to the most needy, but another 800 tons are needed.’ The area’s 40,000-strong population, many of whom already required food aid, has been swollen by more than 2,000 people from the north. One new arrival was farmer Mohamed Bereck Bouhair Dicko, who grew rice outside Timbuktu. ‘There was no authority there. We had to save our lives. It’s a tragedy – I was a food producer. I just left everything behind,’ he said. Away from the highway, in countryside outside the town of Bandiagara – not long ago a favourite tourist spot – the threat of the insurgency is of less concern than simply surviving the present food shortages. In Binour, village elder Djougal Tapily survives with his wife and their family of six on millet supplied by our partner APH. A small bowl of uncooked cereal is the daily allowance for two adults. ‘It keeps us alive but it is not enough. We are always hungry, but we have to manage what we have. I spend all my time worrying about how the family will be fed.’ Many supporters responded to our west Africa crisis appeal during the spring, helping us to raise nearly £457,400. During his trip, Andrew saw the valuable work that this help made possible – but he also saw the extent of hunger and deprivation growing across the region. Please help us extend the work we are doing by visiting christianaid.org.uk/westafrica Christian Aid News 11
Page 1 and 2: CHRISTIAN AID NEWS Issue 57 Autumn
Page 3 and 4: CONTENTS Contact us: 020 7620 4444
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Page 9: IndIa Star power booStS hope of end
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