Photo of Niger famine victims wins top award

A REUTERS picture of a mother and child at an emergency feeding centre in Niger during the recent famine there won the coveted 2005 World Press Photo of the Year Award.

The picture, taken by Canadian photographer Finbarr O’Reilly in Tahoua, north-western Niger, on August 1, 2005, shows the emaciated fingers of a one-year old child pressed against the lips of his mother.

A swarm of locusts and the worst drought in decades left millions of people short of food in the west African state.