UN says 6.5 mln people in Malawi need urgent food aid

Some 6.5 million people in Malawi, or 40 percent of the country's population,need urgent humanitarian assistance due to the devastating impact of El Nino, the deputy UN spokesman Farhan Haq told reporters here Tuesday.

Ertharin Cousin, the executive director of the World Food Programme (WFP), is in Malawi this week to see for herself the impact of the devastating El Nino-induced drought and to appeal for urgent food assistance, Haq said at a daily news briefing here.

He also added that an estimated 18 million people in the region's hardest hit countries -- Lesotho, Madagascar, Mozambique, Swaziland, Zambia, Zimbabwe and Malawi -- need emergency food support.

However, the UN food agency has only secured about a quarter of the 549 million U.S. dollars needed for the assistance, he said.

El Nino -- which means the Little Boy in Spanish -- and its sister La Nina -- the Little Girl -- are weather events, which contribute to changes in climate and weather. Endit