Southern Africa discusses  drought situation

Southern African countries are meeting in Johannesburg, South Africa on January 21 for a one-day meeting to discuss the drought situation in the region, according to the chief executive officer of the country's Disaster management Authority, Dr. Ntalenyane Lesoetsa.

In an interview with LENA, Dr. Lesoetsa said the forum will provide the countries opportunity to put forth their analysis on the drought and hunger before donors and development partners. The appeal will be a  follow-up of that made in 2003 to development partners such as World Food Program (WFP) and United Nations Development Program (UNDP) to extend assistance to the Southern African region up to 2005 as the  drought is  continuing in most countries and is affecting food security.

"The situation has became more serious than before as now both human beings and livestock are affected by hunger because people were not able to plough due to unfavourable weather conditions. Those who tried to plough did not harvest as expected," he said.

Dr. Lesoetsa said the hunger situation that is spearheaded by drought is also contributing in increasing poverty and worsen the HIV/AIDS prevalence in the region. 

The CEO will represent Lesotho in the meeting. He will be accompanied by representatives of the UNDP and WFP in Lesotho.

Participants will be disaster management officers drawn from Lesotho, South Africa, Zimbabwe, Zambia, Malawi, Botswana, Namibia, Swaziland, Mozambique, Tanzania and Namibia.

20 January 2004