Niger food crisis raises alarm

NIAMEY, Niger, July 20 (UPI) -- A top United Nations aid official says the current food crisis in Niger could soon kill 150,000 children if international aid doesn't arrive soon.

Jan Egeland says the children are among some 2.5 million people who need food in the West African nation, the BBC reported Wednesday.

"Niger is the example of a neglected emergency, where early warnings went unheeded," he told the BBC.

The report also blamed the government in Niger for trying to downplay the scale of the famine.

The crisis was widely predicted after last year's poor harvests, following poor rains and locust invasions, the BBC reported.

"The world wakes up when we see images on the TV and when we see children dying," Egeland said. "We have received more pledges in the past week than we have in six months. But it is too late for some of these children."