Niger faces crop failure
Some areas of Niger face total crop failure as a result of a drought in the eastern Sahel that has already affected almost eight million people, the United Nations warns. During a visit to Niger's worst affected areas on Wednesday, the under-secretary-general for Humanitarian Affairs and UN Emergency Relief coordinator, John Holmes, said the country's new government was being open and cooperative about tackling the emergency.
In February President Mamadou Tandja was ousted in a military coup. Tandja had previously been criticised for his handling of Niger's last major food crisis in 2005. This week the UN started a blanket feeding operation to provide food rations to 500,000 children in areas where malnutrition rates are critical.