Kaedi/Nouakchott/Dakar — Despite a decent harvest and pasture coverage for livestock, aid agencies say they and donors must not underestimate vulnerability in Mauritania, having admitted they seriously underestimated the extent of the crisis in 2012 due to inadequate assessment systems and insufficient alarm calls to donors to respond.
"We underestimated the size of the crisis - everyone: the international community and all of our partners," said Alain Cordeil, head of the UN World Food Programme (WFP), in a recent phone interview from the capital Nouakchott. "We are recognizing this and acknowledging the mistake."
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