A British aid group, Oxfam, says the food crisis in Niger should not overshadow similar situations throughout western Africa, including the shortage in Niger's neighbor, Mali, where it says more than one million people are at risk.
Wednesday, Oxfam's regional director for West Africa, Natasha Kofoworola Quist, called on governments to fund the UN World Food Program appeal for Mali. Ms. Quist told English to Africa reporter William Eagle the agency has received less than 15 percent of the seven-point-four-million dollars it has requested in emergency aid to the nation.
Oxfam also says one half million people in Burkina Faso are in need of food aid, and another 800 thousand people in Mauritania are at risk. Ms. Quist urged donors to act quickly to address the situations in these countries.