The international aid agency Oxfam has scorned the world’s wealthiest nations in a statement yesterday, saying that years of neglect by rich countries have contributed directly to the current food crisis in Niger, Mali, Mauritania and Burkina Faso.

According to Oxfam the four West Africa countries, which rank as some of the poorest in the world, fall far behind other countries such as Iraq and Afghanistan in terms of development aid from rich donor governments.

Niger, the world’s second poorest country, receives only US$12 per person per year in aid, in stark contrast to the Iraqi citizen who receives around US$91 per year in aid – over seven times as much. Niger misses out even within its own poverty bracket, with Senegal, Sierra Leone and Zambia all receiving three times as much aid.

Oxfam’s Regional Director for West Africa Natasha Kofoworola Quist said: “If Niger had received the same levels of aid as Iraq, a much richer country, this crisis may never have happened. Sadly, rich countries give aid on the basis of news headlines and political priorities instead of need – millions of people across West Africa are now paying the price of this bias.”

“Niger, Mali, Mauritania and Burkina Faso have been forgotten by the rest of the world and this neglect has led directly to the current crisis. It is appalling that many rich governments only remember these countries when they see children there dying of hunger on their TV screens,” said Quist.

According to the UN Human Development Index, Niger, Mali and Burkina Faso are all among the world’s five poorest countries. Even without the food crisis, 40 per cent of children are malnourished in a normal year in Niger, with one in four dying before their fifth birthday.

Niger is one of the countries to benefit from the increase of aid to Africa to around $50 billion per year by 2010 promised by the G8 nations. Oxfam complained, the aid increase comes too late to help in this food crisis.

“People across the Sahel live on a knife-edge. It takes only the smallest shock to send them spiralling into a food crisis. Rich countries can bring these countries back from the brink, but quick fix solutions are not enough,” said Quist. “Donor governments must give more to Niger, Mali, Mauritania and Burkina Faso – and not only when the TV cameras are rolling.”

The UN estimates that in order for the Millennium Development Goals to be reached and poverty to be eradicated poor countries need around US$45 per person per year in aid, a far cry from the US$19 per head in Mali, US$20 in Mauritania and US$13 in Burkina Faso.