20111213
Press TV
The United Nation World Food Program (WFP) says scarce precipitation and reduced harvests have faced five to seven million people in Africa's Sahel region with food shortages.

"The crisis is already here, all we can do is try to mitigate its impacts on the population," Thomas Yanga, the regional head of the food program's West Africa operation, said in the Senegalese capital Dakar on Thursday, AFP reported.

The Sahel zone stretches across the North Africa between the Atlantic Ocean and the Red Sea.

Yanga stated that the countries of Niger, Mauritania, Mali, and Chad were those worst hit by drought-like conditions.

He added that up to some seven million people were in a situation of food insecurity and needed help.

The official pointed out that the decrease in livestock and harvests had occurred at a time, when food prices had spiked all over the world.

He went on to say that some countries such as Niger and Mali had prepared rescue plans in coordination with the WFP, but other areas were still estimating the possible impacts on their populations.