Alarm grows over drought-stricken Niger

ROME (Reuters) - The United Nations sounded the alarm over drought-stricken Niger on Tuesday as the World Food Programme (WFP) doubled aid operations and the U.N. appeal for the west African country was raised to $371 million.

With 7.1 million people or 47.7 percent of its population facing food shortages, Niger lies at the centre of a food and malnutrition crisis that is affecting nearly 10 million people in the arid Sahel region that runs south of the Sahara desert.

"The drought in Niger is an unfolding catastrophe for millions of people," WFP executive director Josette Sheeran said.

The food crisis in Niger has grown dramatically since the last harvest in September 2009 and young children are under threat from malnutrition.

"We are massively scaling up special nutritional help for children under two years of age, whose brains and bodies face permanent damage from acute malnutrition," Sheeran said.

The WFP now aims to feed 7.9 million people until the end of the year, up from 4.3 million previously, but said that it had barely half the funds needed to do so.

OCHA, the U.N. agency which is coordinating the aid effort, announced it was raising the target of the global appeal to $371 million. Less than a week ago it upgraded the original appeal size to $253 million from $191 million, citing a growing risk of disease and death.

An OCHA spokeswoman in the Nigerien capital Niamey said donors had so far contributed $142 million, leaving a $229 million shortfall to meet the new target.

"People are living on the edge and donors must step up their efforts or risk an even greater tragedy," said Kirsty Hughes, head of advocacy for Oxfam aid group in Dakar, Senegal.