Pedro Gonzlaéz
Journalist
Importers of more than 50% of the wheat they consume from Russia and Ukraine, the countries of the Middle East are trying as best they can to alleviate the famine that is already affecting them all, especially Lebanon, Sudan, Egypt, Somalia, Syria and the Palestinian territories of Gaza and the West Bank, as well as Yemen, ravaged by the long and bloody war that has been devastating the country for the past eight years. It is one of the most dramatic consequences of the invasion and destruction of Ukraine, unleashed by Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Several of these countries were already suffering from food shortages due to drought, especially Somalia, which is suffering its worst drought in 40 years, while political instability and the fragility of its government have facilitated a jihadist resurgence that is also threatening the entire Sahel strip.
Lebanon, which unfortunately offers all the hallmarks of a failed state, can no longer feed two million of its own citizens or the more than one million Palestinian and Syrian refugees, whose massive influx of refugees fleeing the war in Syria has torn at the seams of the country of cedars. Lebanon used to import 66% of its wheat from Ukraine and 12% from Russia. The lack of provisioning since these supplies began to run short has led to a sharp rise in the price of bread and the imposition of rationing. To make matters worse, even if they could make up for the shortages from other sources, their storage capacity is now less than half of what it was before 2020, when the massive explosion at the port of Beirut destroyed their grain stockpile as well as reducing a quarter of the capital to ashes.
No less affected is already the stricken Syria, whose civil war is still not completely over and has come to a halt. However, the interruption of wheat supplies from Ukraine has sent prices soaring. Syrian families, already burdened by eleven years of war, have had to reduce their food consumption even further. The spectre of malnutrition has become an unfortunate reality, especially for children, whose mortality rates have taken the country back to a situation reminiscent of the darkest times in its history.
The responsibility for the collateral effects
Palestine refugees in the Gaza Strip have seen their plight worsen further. The economic crisis has further reduced the capacity of UN agencies and NGOs to distribute food in the area. In Gaza, whose overall food supply is 70% dependent on imports, its wheat and flour needs have come via Egypt, which itself has been hit by shortages due to the war in Ukraine and is struggling to meet the needs of its nearly 100 million people. The first consequence in both the land of the pyramids and Gaza has been an explosion in prices. In the blockaded coastal enclave of Gaza, the situation has been further aggravated by the devastating effects of successive Israeli retaliatory missile operations and the COVID-19 pandemic.
Like the rest of the world, which has been severely affected in one way or another by this war, the Arab countries are looking for urgent solutions to replace their cereal imports from Ukraine and Russia, the world’s strategic granaries. And, like the others, they are also counting on the United States, Canada, India and France to fill the gap. In the Middle East region, they know that such imports will in any case be more expensive and insufficient. It is already clear that wheat price volatility and shortages are leading to increased hunger among the poorest. And it is not unreasonable to expect that food insecurity will trigger social pressure, which in the recent past has led to instability, unrest and even regime change.
Famines have always been the immediate cause of major conflicts and civil wars between two or more countries and have in turn led to the weakening of populations and the spread of numerous diseases. For Vladimir Putin, all this is merely a side-effect of his “special military operation” in Ukraine. But humanity should not forgive him for this.
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