Rising food prices will have deadly consequences in the Congo. Most food is regularly imported. So food shortages are normal.
Eating at a restaurant in Congo is an adventure. It is easier and faster to ask the waiter, what they have available. On one occasion, I tried to be smart and ordered just an omelette from a the restaurant in Kananga. The waiter replied I could not have an omelette. They had no eggs. It was a limited menu this day because their shipment of food had not arrived by train from the southern Congo. Having money meant nothing!
The civil unrest and fighting in eastern Congo displaced hundreds of thousands of people who require food assistance now. They live in IDP camps, with others, or in the bush. This represents a daily food crisis for them.
In the future, when these displaced people return home, they will need food assistance until their farming activities return to normal. Food distribution will be a big problem during this period.
Gunfire in Haiti. Riots in Cameroon. A government crisis in the Philippines. The effects of skyrocketing food prices have reached every corner of the globe. Now, the World Bank has called for world leaders to take action before it is too late.
In a speech given in Washington, D.C. on Wednesday, Zoellick said the money was urgently needed to meet emergency demands and warned that if politicians did not act now, "many more people will suffer and starve."
Zoellick said the World Bank, whose main task is to fight poverty in developing countries, estimated "that 33 countries around the world face potential conflict and social unrest because of the acute hike in food and energy prices." In countries where food made up half to three-quarters of consumer spending, "there is no margin for survival," he said.
PRAYER:
Dear Heavenly Father, have mercy on all those that are hungry around the world. Provide food for their weaken bodies. Stir the conscience of the wealthy nations. In your name, AMEN.
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