04/02/2014 09:13
Africa Sahel belt region faces 'desperate food crisis'
The UN has appealed for more than $2bn to care for 20 million "food insecure" people across Africa's Sahel belt, an impoverished area that includes Sudan and Central African Republic, the BBC reported.
The Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs says conflicts in these countries and elsewhere meant the situation for many was still desperate.
The belt is a semi-arid area stretching from the Atlantic east to the Red Sea.
Donors gave just over 60% of the $1.7bn the UN appealed for Sahel in 2013.
Countries in the Sahel region - south of the Sahara desert - facing food crises include Mauritania, The Gambia, Mali, Niger, Nigeria, Burkina Faso, Senegal and Cameroon, the UN said.
"The situation for countless communities across the region... is still desperate," the OCHA factsheet says.
UN Regional Humanitarian coordinator for the Sahel Robert Piper told the Reuters news agency that the region now faces "make or break time".
"It's the year we see if we can translate theory into practice and start bringing aid workers together to work with national governments and reverse these trends that have been deteriorating year after year," he said.