UN: Conflict key cause of 124 million hungry who could die

The number of people around the world in danger of dying unless they get food urgently surged to 124 million last year, mainly because "people won't stop shooting at each other," the head of the UN food agency has said.

David Beasley told the Security Council by video link yesterday that almost 32 million of those acutely hungry people live in four conflict-wracked countries: Somalia, Yemen, South Sudan and northeastern Nigeria, where famine was averted last year.

"The link between hunger and conflict is as strong as it is destructive," the executive director of the World Food Program said. "Conflict leads to food insecurity. And food insecurity can also stoke instability and tension which trigger violence."
UN humanitarian chief Mark Lowcock said "despite the wildest predictions, famines have become less frequent and less lethal over the past few decades."
Lowcock said a study released on Thursday by the World Food Program, the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation and the European Union confirmed that conflict, often combined with "extreme climate shock and high prices of staple food is the main driver of global food insecurity."