Editorial | Drums of war drown out cries of hunger
- Conflict between Russia and Ukraine, two of the world’s biggest wheat and corn exporters, raises the spectre of famine in Africa
Human suffering from war is to be found far from the sound and fury of battle. Russia’s war with Ukraine is an example.
They are both major food exporters to Africa. The impact of their conflict on the global food supply chain is exacerbating hunger and famine on the continent and, at the same time, distracting attention from it.
The world is too absorbed with a battle between two major food exporters to focus on long consequences for vulnerable populations.
In an attempt to jolt the world into greater awareness, the UN’s World Food Programme has painted dire scenarios aggravated by the Ukraine conflict. The agency says war-ravaged Yemen is “teetering on the edge of outright catastrophe”, with 161,000 facing starvation.
In South Sudan, the agency says, about 8.3 million face extreme hunger in the coming months. Many will not survive. Imminent disaster is not confined to Africa.
In Afghanistan, the abrupt end to 20 years of American occupation has left the country with little to show for it in terms of development, facing economic collapse and a humanitarian catastrophe including the threat of famine to 5 million children.