ADDIS ABABA – The African Union is collaborating with SOS SAHEL, a Non-Governmental Organisation (NGO), in its effort to reduce the vulnerability of communities in the Sahara and Sahel regions in the continent.
The President of the organisation, Dr Philip Lecompte, made the plan known in a meeting with Mrs Rhoda Peace, the AU Commissioner for the Department of Rural Economy and Agriculture, in Addis Ababa on Wednesday.
SOS SAHEL promotes sustainable livelihood and food security through effective water and land management in the Sahel region.
The NGO is taking part in ongoing AU Joint Ministerial Conference on Agriculture, Rural Development, Fisheries and Aquaculture meeting in Addis Ababa.
Lecompte said that the organisation would collaborate to develop a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on cooperation between it and the AU’s relevant department for a joint action on pragmatic interventions in the region.
He said that SOS was promoting the production of Gum Arabic among Sahel countries as part of efforts to reduce poverty in the region.
He said the product was currently in high demand in the international market but was under-exploited in many countries of the region.
He said that Nigeria, The Sudan and Chad shared 90 per cent of the exportation of the product to the world market.
“Fifteen other African countries, including Ethiopia, Cameroon, Togo, Senegal, Mali, Niger, Burkina Faso, Kenya, Eritrea, Uganda and Somalia, produce the remaining percentage,” Lecompte said.
Responding, the AU commissioner commended the NGO for its contribution to the implementation of the Great Green for the Sahara and Sahel Initiative and the Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Programme. (NAN)
