GOAL plane to bring emergency food aid to Niger

A plane chartered by the Irish aid agency GOAL is due to leave Dublin today with emergency supplies for the people of Niger.

Charities have warned that 3.6 million people are facing severe food shortages due to a drought in the west African country.

Hundreds of thousands of people, many of them severely under-nourished children, are facing imminent starvation following crop failures.

However, the distribution of food aid is being hampered by poor communications and infrastructure and GOAL has warned that the situation is still deteriorating.