Dr. Diouf said Africa has success stories in combating hunger.
"Five of its countries are among the thirteen that have made the most
progress in this respect," he said. However, he added that Africa also has
the highest concentration of undernourished people in the world, accounting
for 28 percent of the continent's population. Dr. Diouf said the key
factors contributing to the high percentage of hunger include political
instability, inappropriate economic policies and strategies, weak regional
cooperation and limited economic integration.

"The prevailing food situation in the COMESA countries, and in
Africa as a whole, is a source of serious concern among policy makers,
development partners and civil society," warned Dr. Diouf.

During the November 1996 World Food Summit, 186 countries pledged to
reduce by half the number of underenourished people in the world by 2015.
Dr. Diouf said some progress has been achieved, as the total number of
hungry persons decreased by 8 million per year between 1992 and 1997. But
he added, "this is largely insufficient, given that an annual reduction of
20 million would be necessary if the Summit goal is to be achieved."

Dr. Diouf announced that FAO will convene the "World Food Summit:
five years later" in Rome from 5 to 9 November 2001. He invited the leaders
attending COMESA to be present in person at what he called a major political
and economic event. Dr. Diouf said only Heads of State and Government "are
able to ensure that the most fundamental of human rights - the right to food
- becomes a reality for the citizens of COMESA, Africa and the world."

The Summit will concentrate on two essential aspects: political
commitment at the highest national and international level, and the
mobilisation of multilateral, bilateral and local resources for the
effective implementation of the World Food Summit Plan of Action, Dr. Diouf
said.

In an effort to help low-income food-deficit countries realise the 1996
Summit goal, FAO's Special Programme for Food Security has taken concrete
action at the level of the rural poor to help them produce their own food.
The Programme is now being implemented in 62 countries, of which 37 are in
Africa and 13 are part of COMESA, said Dr. Diouf. He added that the
programme is under formulation in another eight COMESA countries. This
programme is helping to improve water management, intensify cropping while
diversifying production through small-scale livestock rearing, artisanal
fisheries and aquaculture. It is also addressing socio-economic constraints
to agricultural development. In the different countries involved, the
programme is supported by a critical mass of field experts and technicians
supplied under South-South Cooperation. Dr. Diouf paid tribute to Egypt for
demonstrating its solidarity by taking part in this cooperation effort.

Staying on a positive note, the FAO Director-General noted that at
the beginning of the 1970s, India with a population of 400 million people
used to consume 50 percent of all world food assistance. "Today, with a
population of about one billion, it is a net exporter of cereals.
Similarly, over the last six years, Vietnam, formerly an importer of rice,
has become the second largest exporter of this commodity in the world."

Dr. Diouf said FAO knew how these countries have achieved these
results, and had taken part in the programmes and projects that had proven
to be so outstandingly successful. He offered the UN food agency's
assistance to help COMESA member states create an enabling environment to
foster trade in agricultural products among member states and to make the
cornerstone of food security a solid foundation on which to build a
prosperous Africa.

"No state can be truly sovereign and earn respect if it has to ask
other countries to give it food to feed its people," warned Dr. Diouf.

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