Charities warn of famine hitting 14 million Africans

More than 14 million people, half of them children, face a "catastrophic" famine across southern Africa that can only be averted by concerted international action, a coalition of charities said yesterday.

The Disasters Emergency Committee said that political instability and three years of drought, combined with flooding in some areas, had led to food shortages across Zambia, Zimbabwe, Malawi, Mozambique, Swaziland, Lesotho and Angola. An appeal is being launched to help buy food, medical supplies, seeds and tools for the stricken region.

Paul Anticoni, head of international operations for the British Red Cross, said he had just returned from Zimbabwe, where the food crisis was compounded by the soaring rates of HIV/Aids.

He said: "The situation in Zimbabwe is a complex food crisis: a combination of two years of poor rain, a very challenging political and economic environment, compounded by a catastrophic HIV/Aids crisis. Much of the urban and rural population are living off one meal a day. If food doesn't come in, in a very sizeable quantity, that will be going down to no meals at all."

Tony Blair pledged British backing for the international effort last night. The Prime Ministersaid: "It is a genuine tragedy this natural disaster has been visited upon the people of southern Africa. The consequences are potentially very serious and we have ordered action at every level we can."