Mali: Dirk Niebel com­mits an ad­di­tion­al 5 mil­lion euros for Mali and other Sahel countries

19.07.2013 |

Berlin – The German De­vel­op­ment Ministry will provide another approximately 5 million euros for the Sahel region in order to prevent the pre­carious food situ­a­tion there from turning into a crisis. In a letter to World Food Programme (WFP) Executive Director Ertharin Cousin, German De­vel­op­ment Minister Dirk Niebel today committed 3 million euros for WFP programmes in the Sahel coun­tries.

Dirk Niebel said, "The situ­a­tion in the Sahel region continues to be pre­carious, and a new famine cannot be ruled out. We all have vivid memories of the hor­ri­ble 2011 drought in the Horn of Africa. Germany already took preventive action in the Sahel region in 2012. We are now continuing that strategy in order to prevent developments from becoming dramatic."

The BMZ will also provide just under 2 million euros for a food security project in northern Mali. In its bilateral de­vel­op­ment co­op­er­a­tion with Mali, the BMZ pursues large, long-term programmes that address structural issues. The pri­or­i­ty sectors are ag­ri­­cul­­ture and water and sanitation. These activities are making sig­nif­i­cant contributions towards improving the food situ­a­tion in the region.

The BMZ also supports the World Food Programme with an annual core contribution of some 23 million euros. These funds go, among other things, toward WFP activities in the Sahel coun­tries of Niger, Burkina Faso and Mauritania, and in Cameroon.

Earlier, WFP Executive Director Ertharin Cousin had drawn attention to the fact that the food situ­a­tion in the Sahel region continued to be very precarious and that many WFP activities were underfunded.