News In Brief

2-way effort for African food urged in UN 'disaster' report

A combination of severe drought, runaway population growth, internal strife, and an inability to feed its people is sending Africa ''headlong to disaster,'' said Edouard Saouma, director general of the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization. He spoke here Monday before delegates from more than 40 African nations at the 13th FAO regional conference for Africa.

''The problem needs to be tackled at both ends: demand and supply - population, and food production,'' he said. He added that political strife was responsible for uprooting millions of refugees and creating problems for the countries that gave them asylum. He also said the African economy has been battered by worldwide recession and that the food crisis has worsened in the last 10 years.