Mali's Food Crisis Goes Little Noticed
Monday August 8, 2005 8:01 PM
By EDWARD HARRIS
Associated Press Writer
MARSI, Mali (AP) - While the world's attention has been fixed on famished Niger, Sidi Mohammed's big, tearful eyes and cries of hunger reveal another food crisis unfolding next door.
The year-old baby, mewling as his mother tries to feed him a cup of vitamin-rich gruel provided by aid workers, is one of an estimated 1.5 million of Mali's 11 million people are said to be facing hunger, among them an estimated 144,000 children already suffering malnourishment.
Aid workers say they fear a replay of what happened in neighboring Niger, where the world ignored repeated warnings and only rushed in aid in recent weeks when images of starving children hit TV screens.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/story/0,1280,-5198010,00.html