Locust Swarms Descend On Sub-Saharan Africa

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NOUAKCHOTT, Mauritania - "Clouds of locusts swarmed this West African city Thursday, crunching underfoot and causing traffic accidents as sub-Sahara's biggest plague of the insects in more than a decade swept south from the desert. Burning smoky bonfires of tires and trash, the people of Nouakchott tried to fight back the onslaught of the crop-eating bugs -- estimated by the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization to be moving as fast as 60 miles a day and settling at a rate of 200,000 locusts an acre. Blankets of the insects covered houses, cars and roads.

"It's beautiful to see and funny, the locusts on parade in the sky," marveled Aicha Bint Sadibouh, a woman in Noaukchott. "But when they invade the streets and homes, it's disastrous."

The locusts' descent on a major sub-Saharan city made vivid a growing international warning: Unseasonably heavy rains up north had spawned the northwest Sahara's largest locust population since 1988.

Experts warned of threats to vital rainy-season planting now and harvests later. They urged urgent international action for an arid, hardworking region perpetually on the edge of food shortages."

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http://www.kansas.com/mld/kansas/news/nation/9331354.htm