Page 11 - ARUBA TODAY

A11
WORLD NEWS Monday 3 February 2020

Britain's Prime Minister Boris Johnson, right, meets the President
of Nigeria Muhammadu Buhari during the UK-Africa Investment
Summit in London, Monday, Jan. 20, 2020.
Associated Press
Nigeria to address

issues that led to In this photo taken Saturday, Feb. 1, 2020, a plane spraying pesticides flies over a swarm of desert

visa restrictions locusts in Nasuulu Conservancy, northern Kenya. Associated Press

By SAM OLUKOYA medu has a university de-
Associated Press gree and relatives already Spray planes combat the huge
LAGOS, Nigeria (AP) — living in the United States
Nigeria's government to sponsor him but knows locust outbreak in East Africa
pledged Saturday to try to his odds of relocating are
address security issues the now slim unless something By J. MWIHIA, J. KASIRE and B. CURTIS heavy rains in recent months, decimating
Trump administration cited changes. Associated Press crops in some areas and threatening mil-
in its decision to stop grant- "I hope the two nations NASUULU CONSERVANCY, Kenya (AP) — lions of vulnerable people with a hunger
ing immigration visas to will rectify their differences As locusts by the billions — yes, billions — crisis.
people from Africa's most soon so that the ban can descend on parts of Kenya in the worst Somalia's agriculture ministry on Sunday
populous nation. be lifted," he said. "We outbreak in 70 years, small planes are fly- called the outbreak a national emergen-
Immigrants from Nigeria need each other to prog- ing low over affected areas to spray pesti- cy and major threat to the country's frag-
and three other countries ress in this world. No man is cides in what experts call the only effective ile food security, saying the "uncommonly
no longer will be eligible for an island of his own." control. It is challenging work, especially large" locust swarms are consuming huge
visas allowing them to live The U.S. government said in remote areas where mobile phone sig- amounts of crops.
in the United States per- it decided to impose new nals are absent and ground crews can- In swarms the size of major cities, the lo-
manently, the White House visa restrictions on a total not quickly communicate coordinates to custs also have affected parts of Sudan,
said Friday. of six more countries that flight teams. The ground crews are in "the Djibouti and Eritrea, whose agriculture
They would still qualify for failed to meet minimum most woeful terrains," Marcus Dunn, a pi- ministry says both the military and gen-
tourist and business visas, security requirements for lot and the director at Farmland Aviation, eral public have been deployed to com-
but Nigerians rarely are verifying travelers' identities said Saturday. "If there is no network, then bat them. Kenya's agriculture minister has
granted those now be- and whether individuals the fellow on a boda boda (motorcycle), acknowledged that authorities weren't
cause the U.S. says too posed a national security he has to rush off now and go and get a prepared for the scope of the infestation
many visitors from the West threat. network." this year. That's not surprising, considering
African country overstay Immigrant visas were tar- Just five planes are currently spraying as it's been decades since the country's last
their visas. Nigerians, who geted because people Kenyan and other authorities try to stop comparable outbreak, U.N. officials say.
have long decried the visa with those visas are the the locusts from spreading to neighboring The locusts also are heading toward the
application processes in most difficult to remove af- Uganda and South Sudan. The United Na- breadbasket of Ethiopia, Africa's second-
both the United States and ter they arrive in the United tions has said $76 million is needed imme- most populous country, in that nation's
Europe as racist, expressed States, U.S. officials said. diately to widen such efforts across East worst outbreak in 25 years. On Thursday,
disbelief and anger after Nigerian President Mu- Africa. startled residents of Ethiopia's capital, Ad-
the Trump administration hammadu Buhar has es- A fast response is crucial. Experts warn that dis Ababa, started reported sightings of
announced the new poli- tablished a committee if left unchecked, the number of locusts the insects.
cy, which takes effect Feb. "to study and address could grow by 500 times by June, when "I was surprised to find the locusts inside my
21. Okorafor Chimedu, a the updated U.S. require- drier weather will help bring the outbreak living room," said one resident, Mathewos
29-year-old teacher in War- ments," presidential spokes- under control. Girma, showing a photo on his mobile
ri, Nigeria, called it a "col- man Femi Adesina said The finger-length locusts swept into Kenya phone. "It appears it is knocking on each
lective punishment." Chi- Saturday.q from Somalia and Ethiopia after unusually and every one of our doors." q