Millions 'at risk of starvation'

Oxfam and Save the Children have both launched separate 7m emergency appeals to raise funds to tackle the emerging crisis in the region.

In parts of Niger and Chad, people are being reduced to eating maize meant for poultry, while some women are digging ant-hills to collect the grains and seeds the ants have stored, Oxfam said.

It added that worsening conditions in the Sahel region, a semi-arid belt across the southern Sahara, have seen malnutrition rates soar as families struggle to find food. Also affected are areas in Mali, Mauritania, parts of Burkina Faso and north Nigeria.