Leaders from Africa's arid Sahel region meet

BAMAKO, Mali (Reuters) -- Leaders from Africa's arid Sahel region held a summit in Mali on Saturday, with crop shortages and ways of promoting lasting development on the agenda, officials said.

Gambian President Yahya Jammeh handed over the chairmanship of the CILSS interstate committee for the fight against drought in the Sahel to Malian President Alpha Oumar Konare.

The presidents of Burkina Faso, Niger and Chad also attended.

Officials say that 2000 cereal production in the region has fallen below the needs of its population.

In the past, this has caused pockets of malnutrition in the expanding Sahel belt, which runs across Africa between its northern deserts and the forests to the south.

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