UNITED NATIONS - Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon will join a
24-hour fast called by the U.N. food chief to show solidarity with the
world's 1 billion hungry ahead of a food security summit next week, a
spokeswoman said on Friday.
U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) Director-General
Jacques Diouf said on Wednesday he would not eat for 24 hours starting
Saturday morning, and called on people around the world to follow suit.
"The secretary-general intends to join the fast over the weekend,"
U.N. spokeswoman Marie Okabe told reporters. She said that at the time
of his fast Ban would be in transit to the food summit, which opens on
Monday in Rome.
The FAO has called the November 16-18 summit with the hope of
winning a clear pledge by world leaders to spend $44 billion a year to
help poor nations become self-sufficient in food.
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But a final draft declaration seen by Reuters includes only a
general commitment to pump more money into agricultural development and
makes no mention of a proposal to eliminate hunger by 2025.
Okabe said Ban was expected to say in his address to the summit that
it was unacceptable that so many people were hungry when the world had
more than enough food.
"He will also highlight the human cost of the recent food, energy
and economic crises and say that these crises are a wake-up call for
tomorrow," she said, adding that Ban would also stress the link between
food security and climate change.
(Reporting by Patrick Worsnip; Editing by Paul Simao)