Sir, Heart-breaking images of appalling human suffering in Niger are reaching our television screens. Malnourished infants too weak to respond lie dying on hospital beds or in their mothers’ arms. Once again sub-Saharan Africa is portrayed as wretched, pathetic and helpless.

Decades of inadequate rainfall have caused miserable harvests in this semi-desert land. My regular medical working visits to Niger over the past 27 years lead me to two comments that some may consider politically incorrect.

First, although the climate is hostile and the land is barren, imaginative irrigation schemes, the use of natural fertilisers and the planting of more resistant crops would alleviate the situation. But a belief system that actively resists change and stoically accepts hardship as “the will of Allah” militates against innovation.

Secondly, are oil-rich nations that share the same religion as the people of Niger responding to this crisis as we are in the “Christian” West? How do the extreme fundamentalists who so despise the West, and train bombers to maim, explain our willingness to respond to appeals for food aid?

ANDREW POTTER
Goodworth Clatford
Hampshire

From Captain P. R. D. Kimm, RN (retd)

Sir, Understandably, given the circumstances at home, The Times did not have space to report on Saturday the current famine in Niger; but having been appalled by horrific television coverage of the suffering there — particularly among children — I was glad to respond to a charity appeal.

It is clear, however, that the present disaster was foreseen months ago. Must the UN, nations and charities wait for the dreadful pictures of dying children before they make the public aware of catastrophe? Is not prevention better than cure?

PETER KIMM
Emsworth, Hampshire

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