Madrid (dpa) - Senegal's President Abdoulaye Wade has launched an urgent appeal to fight West Africa's worst locust plague in 15 years, the Spanish daily El Pais said Tuesday.
Wade spoke to journalists during a visit to the cultural festival Forum 2004 in Barcelona.
The international community had given too little help too late, El Pais quoted Wade as saying.
When the threat was discovered last spring, 7 million dollars would have sufficed to stop it, according to Wade. Now the need is estimated at 90 million dollars.
"We do not ask for money, but for equipment, four-wheel drives and aircraft to use pesticides,'' Wade said. He added France and Brazil had already agreed to help.
"Africa has no time to lose,'' Wade stressed. The locust plague is affecting an area the size of continental Europe, ranging from the Cape Verde Islands to Chad and as far south as Nigeria. dpa st sc
