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/ 18 October 2005
A private radio station shut down for broadcasting an interview with a separatist was back on the air on Tuesday, but the case was referred to the state prosecutor. Radio Sud FM resumed its normal programmes a day after police arrested journalists and other members of staff following an interview carried early on Monday with Salif Sadio, who calls for the independence of southern Casamance province.
When aid workers start packing up after dealing with the hunger emergency, Niger’s leaders will be left struggling to find lasting solutions to a cycle of chronic lack of food that affects much of Africa. Even in ”normal” times, two-thirds of Niger’s population lives on less than a day and 40% of children show signs of malnutrition.
While mothers continue to bring children weak with hunger to feeding centres, market stalls are filled with food — but at prices well out of the reach of many in this desperately poor nation. ”It is the government’s job to deal with the hungry, we the traders are here for business,” said Ibrahim Baye, who sells millet, a staple in Niger, at Maradi market.
The 300 women crammed into the courtyard of an eastern Niger clinic surged forward as cars loaded with food and medical equipment drove up at 8am. ”I heard that they are distributing food here,” said Khadija Abdourahmane, who had risen at dawn and walked nearly two hours to Madaroufa’s clinic.
The thatched-roof huts where grain is stored for the lean season are empty. The only meal of the day is acacia leaves boiled into a thick paste, eaten in the evening in hopes it will lull the children to sleep. International aid, slow to arrive despite repeated pleas from the United Nations, is finally getting to drought-stricken Niger.