DAKAR (Reuters) -The United States’ ambassador to the United Nations Linda Thomas-Greenfield on Friday said Russia’s invasion of Ukraine will cause 40 million people to become food insecure and that sub-Saharan Africa will be hardest hit.
The United States has secured $4.5 billion for food security at the G7 summit, of which it has contributed $2.76 billion.
There are also plans for the U.S. to contribute $150 million in new humanitarian development assistance to Africa pending congressional approval, she added.
Africans “don’t want to be pressured to pick a side” in a repeat of the Cold War but need to know the facts, she said.
While energy, climate change, the pandemic and conflict are the root causes of global food supply issues, Thomas-Greenfield noted that the “most insidious cause of hunger” is “that used as a weapon of war”.
“We’ve seen no indication that Russia will accept a diplomatic solution” to the war in Ukraine, she said.
(Reporting by Cooper Inveen; Writing by Sofia Christensen; Editing by Hugh Lawson)
