About 350 Mln Africans Suffer From Food Insecurity, Red Cross Says

In December, Patrick Youssef, regional director for Africa at the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said that the majority of the grain which was exported under the so-called Ukraine grain deal did not reach Africa.

About 350 million people in Africa, roughly a quarter of the continent's population, suffer from food insecurity, said International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) Director-General Robert Mardini, speaking at a Folk och Forsvar ("People and Defense") conference that began on Sunday in Sweden.

According to Mardini, the longer the conflict in Ukraine drags on, the stronger its negative consequences take root around the world. In particular, he noted, there is a rapid increase in energy and food prices, a record level of inflation, as well as an increase in poverty.

He noted that the situation will certainly worsen as the global food supply is disrupted and crops remain unstable due to lack of fertilizers.

The Director General of the Red Cross added that the topic of Ukraine crisis continues to dominate the world media, while noting that more than 100 armed conflicts are taking place around the world.

Mardini noted that many of them, with complex long-term humanitarian consequences, are hitting the most vulnerable people in places like Afghanistan, Ethiopia, Somalia, Yemen, Syria, who have already been affected by years of conflict, climate shocks, environmental degradation and the social and economic impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The West stepped up sanctions pressure on Russia over Ukraine, which led to higher prices for electricity, fuel and food in Europe and the United States. Russian President Vladimir Putin has previously stated that the policy of containment and the weakening of Russia is a long-term strategy of the West, and sanctions have caused a serious blow to the entire global economy. According to him, the main goal of the West is to worsen the lives of millions of people. The Russian state has repeatedly declared that the country will solve all the problems that the West creates for it.

Earlier, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said that he had agreed with Russian President Vladimir Putin on the possibility of sending free Russian grain and fertilizers to starving African countries. Putin pointed out in early September that the majority of Ukrainian grain was imported by the West, and was not reaching needy countries in Africa. He stated that Moscow was ready to supply the poorest countries free of charge with the entire volume of grain that was intended for them under the grain deal.