Sierra Leonean President Julius Maada Bio has called on the United Nations Security Council to take a firm moral stance against the use of war as a weapon against civilian food sources.
Reacting to a joint report by the World Food Programme and the Food and Agriculture Organization, which found that 14 out of 16 global food insecurity hotspots are mainly driven by violence and conflict, President Bio stressed the need for the Security Council to act decisively.
"We believe that first we have to talk about prevention of wars and conflicts that are violent, that lead to hunger and starvation at the end of the day, and making sure that when this happens, we take a moral stance as the world, with the Security Council representing us, to make sure that nobody -- no agency, no state or actor -- uses war as a pretext to create hunger, to aggravate food insecurity anywhere by destroying these agricultural fields. But that is what happens during a war. Agricultural fields are turned into battlefields. Infrastructure meant to support agriculture [is damaged]," Bio said in an interview with China Media Group (CMG) that aired on Friday
He highlighted the devastating cycle in conflict and food insecurity feed into one another.
"So there is this vicious circle between the causation leading to violent conflict and violent conflict again feeding into starvation, to hunger, and all, sometimes famine in the worst case. The security council is strong enough when it acts in unison," said the president.
Agricultural fields must not turn into battle fields: Sierra Leonean President
