A

frican nations are highlighting deteriorating condition on the continent due to food insecurity and a slowdown in development from the impact of the global economic crisis.

At meeting of the 67th UN General Assembly at UN headquarters in New York, several African ministers voiced serious concerns on food security.

Foreign Minister Bernard Kamillius Membe of Tanzania said that many countries had become vulnerable to food insecurity and urged the world to work collectively to address the issue.

“We must increase food production and productivity on a sustainable basis, strengthen agricultural systems and establish early war-
ning mechanisms, as we also must develop effective responses to calamities, such as those in the horn
of Africa and the Sahel region,” Membe said.

Djibrill Yipènè Bassolé, the foreign minister of Burkina Faso, said that the West African nation had suffered a food crisis this year due to an exceptionally difficult rainy season.

“The cereal shortage has been exacerbated by a massive influx of tens of thousands of refuges from Mali, sometimes accompanied by their cattle,” Bassolé said.

Instability in northern Mali, where Islamic militants have seized control and imposed sharia, has prompted more than 260,000 people to flee to neighboring countries, further straining the already fragile social and economic infrastructure in the region.

“The restoration of a stable and lasting peace in Mali will require a global approach combining political dialogue and the use of force essentially aimed at neutralizing transnational extremist groups,” Bassolé said.

The groups’ presence in northern Mali was “sure to deliver an irreparable blow” to efforts for better governance and social and economic development, according to the minister.

Other officials called on the UN to expand the Security Council to include a permanent representative from Africa and stressed the vital role of socioeconomic development in ensuring peace.

Algerian Foreign Minister Mourad Medelci said that the working methods of the Security Council must be revised to ensure democratization.

“Its membership must be expanded to include new permanent and non-permanent members of the developing world, particularly Africa, the cradle of civilization,” Medelci said on Saturday.

Mauritania’s foreign minister, Hamadi Ould Baba Ould Hamadi, reaffirmed his nation’s support for reforming the UN, in particular by expanding the Council to include permanent seats for Africa and Arab nations.

“We ask the rich countries and the donor organizations to honor their pledge to make contributions, however insignificant, to finance development, above all for the least developed countries, so as to achieve acceptable levels of access to public services to guarantee civil peace, stability and the social cohesion of these countries in order to safeguard world peace,” Hamadi said.

Foreign Minister Moussa Faki Mahamat of Chad, in his remarks to the assembly, called on the Security Council to adopt a resolution authorizing international military intervention in northern Mali, as sought by the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS).

The ministers are among of scores of world leaders and other high-level officials presenting their views and comments on issues of individual, national and international relevance at the assembly’s General Debate, which ends on Oct. 1.