AU Commission President calls for emergency aid to Mauritania to fight locusts

Chairman of the African Union Commission, Alpha Omar Konare, termed the locust infestation in Mauritania as "grave and of great concern," warning the situation could get worse in the coming months "unless the international community acts to support this country in the fight of the phenomenon."

Konare called, at the end of a meeting held Wednesday with Mauritanian president, Maaouyia Ould Sid'Ahmed Taya in Nouakchott, international partners of Mauritania to extend emergency help to this west African country, most hit by the insect invasion.

The AU Commission chairman, who visited the north African country, said the African organization stands with Mauritania whose food security and crops are threatened by the locusts. Konare held several meetings with government officials on the aid the AU could make to mitigate the fall-out of the locust infestation on Mauritanian economy.

Also visiting Mauritania, FAO Director-General Jacques Diouf had talks with Mauritanian officials to assess the extent of the locust invasion and th damage the locust swarms have caused to the country's vegetation and crops.

FAO has estimated the cost of controlling the locust upsurge in West Africa at between $58-83 million. So far, about $14 million has been committed through FAO by donors, including the Arab Organization for Agricultural Development, France, the Islamic Development Bank, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, the United States and FAO. Other funds from several more donors are in the pipeline, awaiting approval.

FAO reported that as summer rains have already started in the Sahel, egg-laying is likely to occur within a vast area that stretches from the Atlantic coast in Mauritania to Chad. This could extend further into Darfur in western Sudan.

The first desert locust swarms have moved from their spring breeding areas in Northwest Africa to several Sahel countries in West Africa, specifically Mauritania, Senegal and Mali, FAO said.

"Additional international aid is urgently needed to supplement the major efforts already made, in particular by the countries concerned, and to prevent the situation from developing into a plague," FAO said. The current desert locust upsurge is the most serious since the last plague of 1987-89.

Due to the size and number of the current locust infestations, effective control can only be carried out by conventional pesticides. More than 4 million hectares have been treated in Algeria, Morocco, Tunisia, Libya and Mauritania.