Japan plans to pledge about $30-million in emergency aid to countries in southern Africa in the wake of the region’s worsening food crisis, a Japanese newspaper reported on Friday.
According to the Yomiuri Shimbun, Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi will announce the assistance measure during the August 26-September 4 World Summit on Sustainable Development in Johannesburg.
Japan’s latest move comes after the United Nations called on the international community to donate
$610-million in food aid per year, the report said.
The aid will be handed over to the UN World Food Programme (WFP). According to the WFP, six nations in the region – Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, Swaziland, Zambia and Zimbabwe – are facing the most serious food shortages.
About 13-million people are starving in the region this year due to poor harvests caused by droughts or floods and low agricultural production due to the HIV/Aids epidemic and other reasons, according to the WFP.
Japan’s food aid will be part of measures Tokyo intends to compile as part of the so-called Koizumi Initiative, to be announced at the Johannesburg summit. The initiative includes various programmes related to environmental development.
The environmental summit will gather representatives from governments, non-governmental organisations, businesses and other groups to discuss wide-ranging issues, including food security, health and energy. – Sapa-DPA