from the Voice of AmericaBy Douglas MpugaDelegates to the UN World Food Crisis Summit in Rome have promised more help for developing countries. The summit was convened by the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) to deal with the problem of soaring food prices.One of the delegates was Simon Maxwell, the director for the Overseas Development Institute (ODI), Britain’s leading independent think tank on international development and humanitarian issues. He told VOA from London that the summit exceeded expectations.“Our expectations were not so high because there was always a risk that (President) Robert Mugabe would derail the summit or the UN agencies would end up quarrelling. But in the end they didnt do a bad job.”Maxwell said the United Nations produced more money and showed...
from the IndependentHe inflicted starvation on his nation. Now Mugabe has arrived in Europe for a UN summit to tackle the global food crisisBy Peter Popham in Rome, Anne Penketh and Colin Brown He's turned up again like a bad penny. President Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe is back in Rome, staying in five-star accommodation for the duration of a United Nations food summit while his people starve as a result of his disastrous farm policies.The unexpected arrival of President Mugabe and his shopaholic wife, Grace, prompted a flood of international protests yesterday after he joined more than 60 world leaders flying in for the three-day conference. Although the Zimbabwean leader and his wife are targeted by an European Union travel ban, the sanctions do not apply to UN meetings conducted on UN...
from Reuters Africa By Robin PomeroyROME - Political squabbling put a U.N. summit on the global food crisis at risk of closing on Thursday without a powerful declaration on how to stop millions more people going hungry."The food crisis which the world faces today is so serious that it would be disastrous for the survival of mankind if the conclusions reached suffer the same fate at this historic summit," said Ghana's President John Kufuor in speech delivered by an aide. Delegates from 151 countries at the Rome talks, which began with speeches from 44 leaders on Tuesday, missed their Wednesday deadline for agreeing a final statement about "eliminating hunger and securing food for all"."They will look at a new draft which they can either approve, try to amend or, in the worst case,...
from Air America Rome - A UN food summit opened Tuesday in Rome to address a crisis stemming from surging food prices, with top UN officials calling for the need to increase food availability for vulnerable people and to eradicate hunger.At the outset of the three-day meeting convened by the United Nations' Food and Agriculture Organization, UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon urged the international community to work together to overcome the global food crisis."We must improve vulnerable people's access to food and take immediate steps to increase food availability in their communities," he said. "Only by acting together, in partnership, can we overcome this crisis, today and for tomorrow."Ban warned against export restrictions by food-exporting nations. "Some countries have taken action...
from Reuters AfricaBy Laura MacInnisROME, June 3 (Reuters) - More than 20 countries already have serious problems of malnutrition and stunted growth as a result of the food crisis that has set back anti-poverty efforts by years, the World Health Organisation head said on Tuesday.In an interview in Rome, where world leaders are meeting to discuss global food shortages, WHO Director-General Margaret Chan said soaring commodity prices stood to threaten the lives of sick people, pregnant women, and children."We are already beginning to see signs that the world has close to one billion people who are suffering from hunger," she told Reuters, adding that more people will die from "different types of morbidity" if the problem worsens.People with HIV/AIDS and other immune-destroying diseases...
from E Flux Media By Diane Smith United Nations Secretary Ban Ki-Moon said the food production must drastically increase to cope with the higher demands of a rising population corroborated with the crisis started by oil prices, climate change and the impact of the bio-fuel market.While attending a major U.N. food summit in Rome, the U.N. chief called on world governments to take the necessary measures in order to increase the world food production by 50%. According to recent estimations, the measures must fill the demand of nearly 862 million hungry people worldwide."Hundreds of millions of the world's people expect no less," Ban said during the opening of the three-day World Food Security conference.“The world needs to produce more food,'' he added.Ban added that nothing is more...
from the Globe and Mail ERIC REGULYROME — Is there a food crisis? In the strictest definition, no. There is hunger, but no starvation. There are sporadic food riots in the poorest countries, but no widespread, out-of-control urban panic.If you don't believe there is a crisis, you might think this week's Food Summit in Rome, sponsored by the United Nations Food and Agriculture Agency (FAO), is another bureaucratic boondoggle in the making, a grand photo opportunity for everyone from the Pope (Benedict XVI is indeed coming) to Nicolas Sarkozy and his fashionably low-cal wife.Viewed in a different way, the crisis is genuine and potentially horrific. Galloping food prices tell the story. Thanks to two decades of scant investment in agriculture, soaring populations and the new...
from Reuters Africa By Robin PomeroyROME (Reuters) - Soaring food prices could trigger a global catastrophe, with the world's poor unable to feed their families, human rights activists said on Monday.The warning came as world leaders arrived in Rome for a U.N. summit to tackle the food crisis which is pushing 100 million people into hunger, provoking food protests and could aggravate violence in war zones. "The current food crisis amounts to a gross violation of human rights and could fuel a global catastrophe, as many of the world's poorest countries, particularly those forced into import dependency, struggle to feed their people," said Johannesburg-based poverty campaign group ActionAid."It is an outrage that poor people are paying for decades of policy mistakes such as the lack of...