International Development: Niger no longer wants food aid

The prime minister of Niger has backed a U.N. plan to stop the food aid to the country, saying it hurts the nation's dignity.

However, the international aid group Doctors Without Borders disagrees and claims that millions are still starving.

Not so long ago, Niger was the fashionable poverty cause of the month. Headlines such as, "Famine ravished Niger" and "Tens of thousands of children in Niger are not getting enough food and an increasing number are dying of malnutrition" adorned the world's press, creating thousand of instant, out-of-the-jar humanitarians proudly and openly displaying their support for these "poor people" in a country that many had never heard of.

In a matter of weeks, both the UN and the Niger government are saying, "Crisis - what crisis?"

I can understand that food aid can harm a nations dignity. But there is not too much dignity in starving to death in a corruption riddled country.