The United Nations said Wednesday that the Sahel region of West Africa needs $725 million (553 million euros) this year to combat drought, warning that the situation is "urgent." "Around $725 million is what is assessed to be needed this year," Helen Clark, head of the U.N. Development Program, said after a meeting with U.N. aid agencies in Rome. The meeting also included the EU Commissioner for Humanitarian Aid Kristalina Georgieva. The European Commission announced that it is donating 30 million euros to support feeding programs for one million children under the age of two and half a million pregnant women and breast-feeding mothers. "We have a short time to act. Drought is on the way, but it can also be avoided. We have two or three months, no more than that," said Jose Graziano da Silva, director of the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO). "This is a very conflicted region. Food insecurity can be one important factor to bring conflict so we also need to avoid this." "If we are to be successful in the Sahel, we must address the needs today but in a way that makes the region more resistant," Georgieva said. The meeting was held by the World Food Program (WFP), which is aiming to provide assistance to nearly eight million people across the vast region that includes Burkina Faso, Chad, Mali, Mauritania, and Niger. Harvests have fallen by as much as 46 percent in Mauritania, and Niger estimates that more than 5.5 million people in the country are at risk. In a joint statement, the U.N. and EU aid chiefs said there should be "an urgent scale-up" in relief efforts because of the combined effect of drought, high food prices, displacement, and conflict in the region.
