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援助机构寻求10亿美元救助萨赫勒饥民

Humanitarian¹ agencies say at least one billion dollars is needed to prevent many people from going hungry in Africa’s Sahel region. They say about 15 million people are affected² by a deepening food crisis.

人道主义救援机构说，至少需要10亿美元才能防止非洲萨赫勒地区大批人挨饿。这些机构说，大约1500万民众受到不断恶化的食品危机的影响。

The Sahel stretches across nearly a dozen countries in the northern part of Africa, from the Atlantic Ocean to the Red Sea. Warnings about a food crisis in some of the western and central Sahel countries have been ongoing³. However, funding for aid efforts has fallen far short of appeals.

萨赫勒地区幅员辽阔，从大西洋海岸到到红海之滨，横贯北非十多个国家。该地区西部和中部的一些国家不断出现粮食危机的迹象。然而救援努力所需的资金一直以来都比他们所呼吁的数目要少得多。

The United Nations has appealed for more than $700 million dollars, but so far has received less than half. Also a coalition⁴ of four NGOs is requesting $250 million for Sahel aid efforts. Only about $52 million has been raised.

联合国呼吁筹集7亿美元援款，但到目前为止，仅收到了不到一半的金额。由四家非政府组织组成的行动联盟要求得到2亿5千万美元用于救助萨赫勒，可是他们至此仅获得了5200万捐款。

World Vision, Action Against Hunger, Save the Children and Oxfam are making the joint⁵ funding request. Chris Webster is with World Vision’s Global Rapid Response Team and is based in Niger.

世界宣明会，反饥饿行动，救助儿童会，乐施会正在联合请求资助。世界宣明会的韦博斯特在该机构驻尼日尔的全球快速反应小组工作。

“You have a food crisis running across the whole of the Sahel region. It’s affecting a reported 15 million people. Around one million children are severely⁶ malnourished. The situation is serious,” he said.

他说：“整个萨赫勒地区都有粮食危机。据报道有多达1500万人受到影响。大约有100万儿童严重营养不良。局势仍在恶化。”

And getting worse

Despite the scope of the crisis, Webster says it has not received the same media attention that the drought and famine in East Africa did.

尽管出现大规模粮食危机，但韦博斯特说，这个问题并没有像东非干旱与饥荒那样引起媒体的高度重视。

“Thankfully, so far, we’re not seeing the suffering that we’ve seen in the east of Africa. But what we are aware of is that people in five weeks’ time are going to be starving. That’s a fact from the indicators⁷ that we’re looking at. What we’re trying to do here in West Africa is intervene before it reaches that point. So there’s an imperative⁸ to respond early,” he said.

他说：“所幸我们目前还没有看到东非出现的那种饥荒惨像。但是我们非常清楚的是，民众要在未来5周内挨饿，没有东西吃。这是我们根据相关指标评估出来的。我们所能努力争取的是在饥荒出现之前进行干预。采取早期行动是十分必要的。”

Webster describes the food crisis as complex, with drought being just one of the factors.

韦博斯特恩斯描述说，粮食危机十分复杂，干旱仅仅是一个因素。

Specifically this year we’ve seen failed rains. We often get rains, but they’re often too short and at the wrong times. So we’re not able to see the harvests that we need. Within the region we’ve got some complex political issues as well and governance and conflict in Mali, which has led to some 200,000 people to leave their homes. So the combination of that and the instability that that causes on top of the lack of food.

他解释说：“特别是今年我们看到雨水奇缺，尽管经常下雨，但往往水量太少，杯水车薪，时机也不对。因此我们无法看到我们所希望看到的收成。在这一地区内我们还面临复杂的政治问题，还有马里发生的政权问题和武装冲突迫使20万人逃离家园。这些问题加起来使得饥荒问题雪上加霜。”

The conflict in northern Mali is forcing civilians⁹ to seek safety in neighboring countries. Most have gone to Mauritania. Webster said the refugees are bearing the brunt of both the food crisis and conflict.

马里北部的冲突正迫使平民逃到邻国避难。多数人逃到毛里塔尼亚。韦博斯特说，这些难民在饥荒和战乱中深受其害。

“People are arriving there with nothing. They’re living in camps, which are just sheets on sticks with a few pots and pans. And there’s a fierce wind blowing across this desert. The heat is unbearable¹⁰. And so there we’re able to see the extent of that suffering already playing out in those refugee camps. Now, I think what we’re seeing there are the kind of things we’re going to be seeing more and more in some of these communities that are at risk,” he said.

他说：“这些难民孑然一身逃到邻国，住的是难民营，除了几根木棍加上一张布单做成的床以外，就是几只锅碗，别无他物。沙漠地区常常狂风大作，酷热令人无法忍受。我们在那里的难民营看到了人们艰难的生活程度，目前我们认为，我们所看到的景象可能会越来越严重，会逐步侵蚀更多其他面临风险的社区。”

The humanitarian NGO coalition said the needed funding is not only for emergency food aid, healthcare and shelter. They say the money would also be spent to boost community resilience, such as livelihood¹¹ development and agricultural reforms. Such things, they say, could help communities better withstand erratic¹² rainfall and political instability.

人道主义非政府组织联盟说，所需的援助资金不仅仅用于紧急粮食援助、医疗照顾以及临时住宿。他们说，这些资金还要用于加强社区的适应能力，例如民生发展和农业改革等。他们说，这些问题可以帮助社区更好的抵御不稳定的降雨和政治动荡。

The NGOs are calling on G8 leaders to consider the Sahel crisis at their summit next month.

这些非政府组织呼吁 工业化8国领导人下个月召开首脑会议期间将萨赫勒的危机纳入议事日程。