Mali

"Many more northern Malians are likely to face severe food shortages in the coming days and weeks if markets remain blocked by border and road closures, and humanitarian access remains limited, warn food security agencies. Disruption to the Mopti-Douentza-Gao corridor has also led to severely diminished cereal supplies in Gao markets, says Action Against Hunger's head in the capital, Bamako, Franck Vannetelle. Gao residents are relying on cereal imports from Niger.

"...Aid group Action Against Hunger (ACF) warned that the opening of a new front in the east of the landlocked country could worsen an already dire food situation in the remote area. It raised fears 'that an armed ground intervention from Niger will cut the last access route to supply basic goods (food and medicine) to people in the region,' a statement said. 'There are clearly cases of acute malnutrition,' said ACF official Lucile Grosjean, adding that it affected about 20,000 children under 15.

"Military action has disrupted the work of some NGOs in the north. Action Against Hunger said it has suspended its programmes in Gaotemporarily, and warned that clashes are hampering humanitarian aid to vulnerable communities.

"The UN has said it is able to get access to Mopti from Timbuktu by water, but that Konna as well as Gao and Kidal further in the north remain inaccessible to humanitarian operations. Other humanitarian organisations, including Plan Mali, Action Contre la Faim (Action Against Hunger) and Christian Aid say they have withdrawn all staff from the area affected by conflict and have been forced to suspend operations. 'Action Contre la Faim has had to temporarily suspend its programmes in the Gao region,' the organisation said in a statement.

"The Sahel crisis is about much more than rain, or lack of it. Yes, in the years when the rains fail more people are pushed into hunger, but the NGO message is that this is something that will take years to fix...'One good harvest doesn't lead automatically to self-sufficiency in food production,' says Mamadou Diop from Action Against Hunger, ACF International in Bamako.

"Sparse rainfall in 2011 triggered food alerts for Mali which went out well before the start of the rebellion in the north in January, and the coup d'état in Bamako in March.

"...The UN World Food Programme (WFP) estimates that 1.7 million Malians are at risk of severe hunger this year due to drought, high food prices, poor terms of trade for animals, and conflict-driven insecurity. Malnutrition rates are sharpened by these factors, but they are always unacceptably high in Mali.