Famine worst in conflict countries: study

0 Comments | AFP, October, 2006

WASHINGTON (AFP) — Three-quarters of the world's hungriest people are in conflict zones, where warring parties use access to food as a weapon, a new study said. The Washington-based International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) said among the 12 countries hit worst by famine, nine were affected by conflict between 1989 and 2003.

"And of course, the link between hunger and conflicts is quite obvious especially in poor countries because both parties frequently used hunger as a weapon," IFPRI researcher Doris Wiesmann said. "They cut off food supply, they starve opposing populations into submission and there have even been cases recorded where soldiers hijacked food aid that was intended for civilians," she told reporters. All of the 12 nations were in Africa or Asia --...