The U.N. food agency has declared its highest-level emergency in drought-stricken southern Africa and is appealing for $204 million immediately to purchase food and transport it to the region to help millions of hungry people, AP reported. World Food Program Executive Director Ertharin Cousin told reporters in a telephone briefing from hard-hit Malawi on Tuesday that the El Nino-induced drought which also affected South America and Ethiopia has devastated crops and caused harvests to fail in southern Africa. Currently, she said, 18 million people need emergency food assistance in seven countries severely affected by El Nino Lesotho, Madagascar, Mozambique, Swaziland, Zambia, Zimbabwe and Malawi.
