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NIGER / SAHEL CRISIS
STORY: NIGER / SAHEL CRISIS
TRT: 2.30
SOURCE: UNHCR
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH / NATS
DATELINE: 4 MAY 2012, NIGER, OULLAM
4 MAY 2012, NIGER, OULLAM
1. Wide shot, arid land
4TH OF MAY 2012, TOUGFINI, OULLAM
2. Wide shot, people resting
3. Various shots, women cooking with leaves (Hasu)
4. Med shot, children eating cooked wild leaves
5. Med shot, other people eating in their hut
4TH OF MAY 2012, TOLKOBEY, OULLAM
6. Various shots, camp residents cueing for food aid
7. Tracking shot, woman carrying food bag in her bag
8. Med shot, boy being measured for malnutrition
9. Various shots, WFP Executive Director and High Commissioner for Refugees arrive at WFP food distribution site
10. Wide shot, camp residents
4TH OF MAY 2012, TOLKOBEY, OULLAM
11. SOUNDBITE (English) Ertharin Cousin, Executive Director, World Food Program (WFP):
“There are over nine million people potentially being impacted by the lack of access to food as we move into the lean season in June. We have started the work on ground. We have an opportunity to ensure that this crisis does not become a famine.”
4TH OF MAY 2012, MANGAIZE REFUGEE CAMP, OULLAM (hosting over 3000 Malian refugees, while total of Malian refugees in Niger is 40,000)
12. Wide shot, camp
13. Wide shot, camp residents with heir belongings by a tree
13. Various shots, Ertharin Cousin and Antonio Guterres visiting the camp
10. SOUNDBITE (English) Antonio Guterres, United Nation High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR):
“What we are facing here is a deadly combination of drought with a dramatic food security problem that WFP is address with an enormous effort and conflict, conflict in Mali with almost 160, 000 refugee in Niger Mauritania and Burkina Faso.”
11. Wide shot, mother with children
12. Close up, children
Speaking from Niger, a top United Nations (UN) official appealed to the international community to provide the resources needed to help millions in crisis in the Sahel region of West Africa, warning that the situation is critical and there is no time to lose.
The World Food Programme’s (WFP) Executive Director Ertharin Cousin said there were over nine million people that could being impacted by the lack of access to food as the June the lean season arrives.
She noted that there was an opportunity “to ensure that this crisis does not become a famine.”
Accompanied by High Commissioner António Guterres, Cousin was in Niger to raise awareness of the crisis and mobilize support for emergency assistance to the people affected in the country and in neighbouring Mali.
There are currently 15 million people facing food insecurity in the Sahel, which stretches from the Atlantic Ocean to the Red Sea, and includes countries such as Niger and Mali.
The trip is Cousin's first field visit since assuming the leadership of WFP one month ago.
In Niger, WFP has launched an emergency operation to support 3.3 million people, with a special focus on children under two. Some 35 per cent of people being assisted will receive cash. Over 423,000 people have already received support through food-for-assets and cash-for-work programs.
As part of their three-day visit, the two UN senior officials are meeting with some of the thousands who have fled fighting in neighbouring Mali. The refugees have put a further strain on communities in Niger that are already facing a food crisis.
Guterres said that what the region was facing was a “deadly combination of drought with a dramatic food security problem.” He said that the conflict in Mali had brought almost 160, 000 refugee to Niger, Mauritania and Burkina Faso.”
WFP estimates it needs some US$450 million to help people across the region.
Last month, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon called on the global community to act quickly to address what he described as a “cascading crisis” sweeping the Sahel.
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