G8 to unveil famine-combat plan

SAVANNAH, Ga., June 8 (UPI) -- Group of Eight leaders have reached an agreement on a special initiative to help end famine in the Horn of Africa, a U.S. official said Tuesday.

The leaders of the United States, Britain, France, Germany, Italy, Canada, Japan and Russia are expected to announce the plan to help prevent famine by improving worldwide emergency assessment and response systems, said Jim Wilkinson, deputy assistant to the president and deputy national security adviser for communications. He said the goal of the plan -- called Ending the Cycle of Famine in the Horn of Africa -- was to raise agricultural productivity and help 5 million chronically "food-insecure people" in Ethiopia by 2009.

"The president believes that famine is a preventable tragedy, and he is determined to commit the international community and the United States to do more to help alleviate it," he said.

Leaders of the G8 meet on Sea Island, Ga., from Tuesday through Thursday.