Aid groups warn of looming food crisis in northern Mali because of poor harvests, instability
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Humanitarian groups are warning that northern Mali soon could be facing a serious food crisis unless more money is raised.
The agencies warned Friday that more than 800,000 people need immediate food aid and some 3 million people nationwide are at risk.
Speaking for 11 international aid agencies, Franck Vannetelle, director of Action Against Hunger in Mali, said the number of vulnerable people facing a new food crisis "is likely to double if the needs identified are not met quickly."
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Aid experts say the looming food crisis is the result of poor harvests and the instability wracked by the 2013 French-led war to oust Islamic extremists from power in the north.
During the rule of al-Qaida and other extremist groups in northern Mali, hundreds of thousands of Malians were displaced.