Persistent Conflicts: Bane of Food Security in Africa-Amb Linda Thomas Greenfield.

Caroline Ameh.

The United States Ambassador to the United Nations, Linda Thomas-Greenfield has stated that the persistence and pernicious conflicts in Africa have become the bane of food security in the continent.
She said this while delivering a keynote address at the University of Ghana, Accra on ‘Vision for Peace and Progress on Food Security’.

According to her, the world does not have peace because of persistent and pernicious conflicts, that have made it impossible for African citizens to have the needed three square meals for growth and development especially the children.
“I have worked on humanitarian causes for nearly 40 years. And today, despite all the modern tools we have at our disposal, we’re experiencing the worst – let me repeat – the worst global food security crisis I have ever seen. This is an emergency”.

She pointed out that, the dream of some of Africa’s greatest minds like Dr. Martin Luther King is to see that every African has what it takes to nourish their bodies. According to King and I quote, “I have the audacity to believe that peoples everywhere can have three meals a day for their bodies, education and culture for their minds, and dignity, equality and freedom for their spirits.”
Thomas-Greenfield also noted that there is a connection between food, peace, and prosperity and this affects food security.
“Food insecurity means families are not able to provide for their children. It means children not getting the nutrition they need to succeed at school. And in the worst cases, it means famine. And famine means death”.

“That’s why we have to be determined to stamp out hunger. To translate peace into bread and rice. And to do that, we cannot just supply food to the hungry – although that is incredibly important. We also have to look at what is causing that hunger, what is driving food insecurity in the first place”.

Ambassador Thomas-Greenfield also identified four clear causes that are responsible for the food crisis, what she called the “E” and the three “C’s”. Energy. Climate. COVID and Conflict.

“Energy prices have gone up in the past year – anyone who has to regularly fill up their gas tank or pay an electric bill knows this all too well. The reasons are complex and interrelated – such as supply chain issues, climate change – but the result is clear: rising energy prices. Plus, Russia’s manipulation of gas flows is now further spiking prices”, she said.

She equally said this can have a devastating effect on the food cycle because energy is used to produce the chemical fertilizer that helps crops grow.
Another challenge to food security according to her is the climate crisis. “And right now, the Horn of Africa is experiencing its worst drought on historical record. The World Food Program estimates that up to 20 million people may risk going hungry in that region”.

“Somalia, in particular, is on the brink of famine – tens of thousands of people are desperately traveling across the barren wilderness looking for food. More than 700,000 camels, goats, sheep, cattle died in just the first two months of this year from drought-related causes”.

“But it is children who are suffering the most – almost half of those under five in Somalia face acute malnutrition. Mothers who don’t have enough to eat stop producing the breastmilk their children need to survive and thrive. Fewer crops, fewer animals, more floods and droughts. It adds up.”

“And while the climate has been making it harder to source food for years, now COVID-19 gave us an immediate and additional shock to the system. COVID disrupted the labor markets that farmers across the region and the world rely on. It upended our supply chains and it made it harder to get food to market. And economic hardships and inflation, another consequence of this virus, have made it more difficult for people to afford the food that does get to market. Before COVID, 100 million people were food insecure. Three years later, just in three years, that number jumped to over 190 million people.”

Finally she also pointed at the last challenge to third “C,” which she believed is the most insidious source of hunger. That is hunger caused by conflict. Hunger that is caused intentionally. Hunger used as a weapon of war.

She said,”Africa offers a heartbreaking litany of examples. In the Democratic Republic of the Congo and the Central African Republic, violence has led to displacement of millions of acutely malnourished children. Fighting in Northern Ethiopia, and the drought in Ethiopia’s Somali region, have driven innocent civilians to the brink of starvation. And while we welcome the recent humanitarian truce in Northern Ethiopia, which has held for more than four months now, acute malnutrition is still a grave concern nationwide. The government has just started allowing us to get humanitarian aid to those who need it desperately, but much more needs to be done to reach vulnerable populations beyond urban areas.”

She noted that, she has consistently brought these issues to the UN Security Council. The world needs to see how food insecurity increases the risk of conflict. And the Security Council needs to do a better job of stopping food from being used as a weapon of war.