Locust swarms In NW Africa continue to spread – UN Agency

ROME, July 05, 2004 (AP) — International aid is urgently needed to contain locust swarms in northwestern Africa that could spread as far as the conflict-ridden region of Darfur, Sudan , a U.N. agency said Monday.

Swarms of locusts have moved from spring breeding areas in northwestern Africa to countries including Mauritania, Senegal and Mali, and are likely to multiply in coming weeks, the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization said.

With swarms expected to spread east to Niger and Chad, egg-laying is likely across the region and could reach Darfur in western Sudan , the agency said in a statement. Darfur is currently struggling to cope with a conflict that has displaced more than 1 million people.

Though more than 4 million hectares of crops in Algeria, Morocco, Tunisia, Libya and Mauritania have been treated with pesticides, additional international aid is urgently needed, the Rome-based agency said.

The current locust upsurge is the most serious since the locust plague of 1987-89, which provoked costs of some $300 million with emergency operations carried out in 28 countries.