Locals say the drought and the locust plague, which began last year, have been on for the second consecutive year. It is a sad reminder for this poor country of a similar emergency situation 15 years ago when it took a concerted international effort to save the country’s population from death through hunger.

Under this unpleasant situation, families have resorted to feeding their children with leaves and grass if only to survive. This has resulted in a bizarre situation in which cattle and goats are competing for pasture with humans. The country’s vegetation has suffered greatly under this terrible condition as virtually all young trees have been uprooted as the people look for just about any plant to eat.

Some have tried to cope with the hardship by selling their animals. But sale of animals fetches only little in a situation in which there are far more animals than buyers.

The result is that both humans and animals are falling dead from the lack of availability of even grass and leaves.

Those who are lucky fled to neighboring countries such as Nigeria, Benin, or Mali to escape the hunger at home. In foreign lands, a few of them find jobs as laborers while the majority must turn to street beggars and some of the women are compelled to go into prostitution. But many of them believe that their lot is still better than the situation of their kinsmen back in land-locked Niger who are battling a slow and terrible death at the hand of hunger and disease.

Aid agencies estimate that as many as 3.6 million people in Niger could be affected by the famine and drought which has made food scarce. As in most emergencies of this nature, children are often the worst hit. The food crisis in Niger has been no different. Indeed, the United Nations says that as many as 150,000 children are dying of hunger, mostly in far flung areas such as Maradi, Tahoua, and Zinder where the worst cases of malnutrition can be seen.

Under normal circumstances, child mortality in Niger is one of the highest in the world with one out of every four children not living to five years of age. But amid the food crisis, the health situation in Niger has gone from bad to worse. Worst affected have been children.

The UN emergency food agency said that it was slow in offering assistance to preempt the Niger food crisis because donors did not respond quickly to its appeals.

However, a sad dimension to Niger’s plight is the absence of a concerted African effort to lend a helping hand to a needy brother.

“When the Tsunami earthquake occurred early this year, Nigeria and many African countries swiftly responded at least first with words of sympathy followed later with material assistance,” complained Anene Umennaka, president of Friends of the Sick International (FOTS), an NGO based in Lagos, Nigeria.

“But in this Niger food crisis, Nigeria and most African countries are keeping mute. Shouldn’t Nigeria have been the first to respond, as President Olusegun Obasanjo is the head of the African Union? Why is Muammar Ghaddafi of Libya, who appears to be so much concerned with African unity and solidarity, not spearheading humanitarian aid to this impoverished neighbor?” said Umennaka.

Umennaka may not be completely right. Like the rest of the world, Nigeria and other African countries were late in responding to the distress call from Niger several months ago when the food crisis began to get out of hand.

But since last month when the international community started sending relief materials, a number of African countries, including Nigeria, have responded to the clarion call.

Among the major benefactors is the United States of America, which said it has spent about US$13.75 million to help Niger tackle the food crisis. The World Food Program (WFP) said it has raised more than US$57 million in its bid to meet its target of feeding 2.5 million famine victims in southern Niger.

“An IL-76 carrying 41 metric tonnes of Unimix (an enriched flour) and oil supplied by the French Red Cross arrived at 0610 in Niamey, the capital of the hunger-stricken West African country,” Webb said. “It was followed by a scheduled flight carrying 900kg of medicine and medical materials from the British Red Cross. An Antonov-124 carrying 10 trucks and two Landcruisers from the Norwegian Red Cross was scheduled to arrive later in the evening. A total of 244 metric tonnes of Unimix and oil -- as well as medical supplies, telecommunications equipment and vehicles -- is scheduled to arrive in the country over the next two weeks. Large-scale Red Cross distributions targeting 23,000 moderately malnourished children less than five years old will be fully under way from Monday in four of the country’s worst hit regions - Tahoua, Maradi, Zinder and Agadez.”

For now, there appears to be some respite for Niger and its hunger stricken multitude. The major question is what will happen when the current media frenzy dies down and donors are confronted by a new or even more gruesome calamity elsewhere.

Mija Ververs, a Dutch nutritionist and volunteer with the Red Cross Federation in Geneva and who is now in Niger to lend a helping hand, said that there may be a ray of hope for Niger with the advent of the rainy season, which gets into full swing this month (August). Mija, however, admitted that this does nothing to fill the so-called hunger gap; namely the period from when last year’s stocks ran out to the beginning of this year’s harvest.

“Crops may be growing, but they are of no use to anyone for another two months,” Mija said. “Furthermore, even the slightest interruption in rainfall, or worse still an early end to the season (similar to what happened last year), could spell the failure of entire crops. If there’s not enough rain, they simply won’t make it,” she explained.