The French government said on Tuesday that it was mobilising to address the "very grave" situation in Somalia, where drought and widespread malnutrition threaten hundreds of thousands of lives.
Foreign Ministry spokesman Bernard Valero said, in answer to KUNA questions, that France was also discussing ways to tackle the Somali crisis with its European partners, as well as with the G8 and G20 groups which France currently presides.
"This is a situation where we are mobilized...and share the concern that there is operational follow-up to mobilisation with our European partners and also in the framework of the G8 and G20 and in view of the French Presidency" of those bodies.
The French official did not react to KUNA questions on why the G8 had not lived up to earlier commitments to provide USD 22 billion in food and agricultural aid to Africa.
Only about 20 percent of that commitment has so far been met.
But Valero said that France would be consulting with its G8 partners in the run-up to the Cannes Summit in November, when it is hoped the African food crisis will be addressed, particularly the case of Somalia.
"This is a subject we are discussing with our partners and United Nations agencies," the spokesman indicated.
"This country already had a drought in 2006...and now faces a rainfall shortage," Valero observed. "We view the situation as very, very grave." "We are working to get a rapid international mobilisation (on Somalia) and also so that the commitments made in the past are more than ever engaged. We are working for this," the official affirmed.
Source: Kuwait News Agency {KUNA)
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