UN agency, Mali join forces to aid those affected by violence, climate change

The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) is teaming up with the government of Mali to restore the livelihoods of households affected by the armed conflicts and climate change in the northern part of the West African country, a UN spokesman told reporters here Wednesday.

A total of 33,000 families will benefit from a new program providing feed and veterinary products for cattle as well as training in farming and nutritional good practices, with an emphasis on the needs of women's groups engaged in horticulture, deputy UN spokesman Farhan Haq said at a daily news briefing here.

This project is part of a 100-million-U.S. dollar World Bank Economic Recovery and Reconstruction Program in Mali, he said.

In December 2012, then Prime Minister of the transitional government Cheick Modibo Diarra announced resignation and dissolved the cabinet after being arrested by troops supportive of ex-coup leader Amadou Sanogo.

Northern rebels continued its southward push in January 2013, briefly taking the key town of Konna in central Mali and threatening the Bamako-based government of transition, which is recognized by the international community.

French and African troops intervened in Mali in January 2013 to stop the southern advance of al-Qaeda-linked fighters on the capital, Bamako. They were eventually expelled from towns across the north, but both nomadic Tuareg rebels and other Islamist militant groups have remained active. Endite