AFRICA/UNITED STATES: Amid the Russian-Ukraine war, African countries have been projected to receive $150 million in humanitarian help from the United States, of which it has contributed $2.76 billion.
And about 40 million people are also expected to go hungry globally for similar reasons, the United States (U.S) ambassador to the United Nations (U.N) Linda Thomas-Greenfield has revealed.
Thomas-Greenfield also added that, among the 40 million people, sub-Saharan African countries will be most hit by food insecurity. This was made known during the US G7 summit.
It is no longer news that African leaders have in totality refused to take part in Russia-Ukraine’s faceoff in condemnation and sanctions. Africans “don’t want to be pressured to pick a side” in a repeat of the Cold War, but “need to know the facts“, Thomas-Greenfield said.
Attributing energy, climate change, the pandemic and conflict as root causes of global food supply, the “most insidious source” is hunger used intentionally as a weapon of war, Thomas-Greenfield added.
Thomas-Greenfield, who refused to blame Moscow for the food crisis across the globe, said the blame should rather be on Western sanctions for slowing its food and fertilizer exports. “We’ve seen no sign that Russia will accept a diplomatic solution” to the war in Ukraine, she said.
Meanwhile, It could be recalled that during French President Emmanuel Macron’s, “three-leg tour of Africa”, a trip meant to strengthen political ties with the African continent and help boost agricultural production amid the growing food insecurity linked to the war in Ukraine.
Refuted people’s belief that global food crisis is one of Russia’s “weapons of war”, saying it should rather be attributed to the imposed Western sanctions and anti-French sentiment rising in France’s former West African colonies.
ALSO READ: 19.4 Million Nigerians to Face Food Crisis By May: Cadre Harmonisé
