AFRICA – The United Nations (UN) has called for international help to fight huge swarms of desert locusts sweeping through East Africa.
A spokesman for the UN’s Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO), called for aid to “avert any threats to food security, livelihoods and malnutrition.”
Ethiopia, Kenya and Somalia are all struggling with “unprecedented” and “devastating” swarms of the food-devouring insects, the FAO said.
The agency fears locust numbers could grow 500 times by June.
Ethiopia and Somalia have not faced an infestation on this scale for 25 years, while Kenya has not seen a locust threat this size for 70 years, the FAO said.(BBC)
