UN: Thousands in West, Central Africa could face starvation

In the last quarter of the year, Benin, Ivory Coast, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Liberia, Sierra Leone and Togo experienced a 20% increase in food insecurity compared with 2021, according to the food security report. [iStockphoto]

More than 25,000 people could face starvation in conflict-plagued parts of West Africa next year, a United Nations official warned Friday.

Federico Doehnert of the World Food Program said violence and the economic fallout of the COVID-19 pandemic and the war in Ukraine are largely driving the threat to people in Nigeria, Mali and Burkina Faso.