LF: Why the death of Gaddafi caused a plague of (Obama-NATO) locusts in Africa as despot's pest control system disintegrates

Title: Why the death of Gaddafi caused a plague of (Obama-NATO) locusts in Africa as despot's pest control system disintegrates
Source: UK Daily Mail
URL Source: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art ... est-control-disintegrates.html
Published: Jun 7, 2012
Author: Chris Parsons
Post Date: 2012-06-07 12:07:47 by Hondo68
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Keywords: pests allowed to breed, descending on Mali & Niger, swarms of locusts
Views: 319

The Arab Spring and the fall of Colonel Gaddafi have continued to have long-lasting effects across the entire African continent, after agricultural experts warned of swarms of locusts about to move from Libya into neighbouring countries.

The Food and Agricultural Organisation of the UN has warned that following the death of Libya's despot leader, thousands of the pests have been allowed to breed and move across the nation's poorly-monitored borders.

Experts believe that croplands in neighbouring Niger and Mali are now at imminent risk after locust swarms moved south from Libya and Algeria.

Plague: Swarms of locusts are said to be descending on Mali and Niger following the disintegration of the pest control scheme which ran under Gaddafi's rule in Libya (file picture)

The swarm of insects could be disastrous for the economies of Mali and Niger, as desert locusts have the ability to destroy huge areas of cropland is short spaces of time.

The two countries which could be affected lie immediately south of Libya and Algeria in North Africa.

The deposed Libyan leader was killed by rebel fighters in October last year, with thousands of kilometres of land left vulnerable ever since.

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The effective and well-controlled pest control scheme used during Gaddafi's reign as leader is said to have disintegrated since his death.

The winged insects can eat their own weight in food each day, with the fall of Gaddafi said to be an 'enormous factor' in their spread across North Africa.

Keith Cressman, FAO senior locust forecasting officer, told the Financial Times: 'The fall of Gaddafi was an enormous factor, to be honest.

Croplands in Niger and Mali are now at believed to be at imminent risk after locust swarms moved south from Libya and Algeria

Muammar Gaddafi was killed by rebel fighters during the Libyan uprising in October last year

'It depleted the Libyans’ capacity to monitor and respond as they normally would.'

The Libyan uprising saw a substantial fall in security along the border between Libya and Algeria, resulting in teams failing to spray affect croplands and prevent locusts.

Swarms of desert locusts were said to have formed around Libya and Algeria last month following heavy rain and the resulting growth of vegetation on which the insects feed.

The Financial Times reported that local teams have managed to spray pesticide on 40,000 hectares of infested areas in Algeria, and 21,000 hectares in Libya.

Despite this, swarms of the insects have been seen in northern Niger, which is currently experiencing a food crisis.

Say what you will about Gaddafi but he spent his wealth putting in an amazing water system and other infrastructure improvements, and kept the locusts down. He also had the radicals under control, but with Obama and NATO's help they're now in charge, infrastructure has gone to hell, and they're killing blacks, Christians, and anyone else they don't like. (3 images)