Pretoria - South Africa is to render humanitarian assistance including emergency food to four Sahelian countries, International Relations and Cooperation Minister Maite Nkoana-Mashabane said.
The aid is to be made immediately available to Mali, Niger, Mauritania and Chad.
This comes after the countries approached the South African Government for assistance at a bilateral level and stipulated the areas where they require assistance and immediate humanitarian relief, said the department on Wednesday.
On Tuesday, Nkoana-Mashabane successfully concluded her participation in the Ministerial Meeting of the African Union's Peace and Security Council (PSC), which took place in Bamako, Mali. The minister made the announcement of the four states requiring help at the council's meeting.
"South Africa has taken heed of the call made by the four core Sahelian countries because of the humanitarian crisis currently confronting this region. As a short term measure, emergency food and nutritional aid will be directly delivered to these sister countries as a matter of urgency. South Africa is also working out a framework of implementation of further assistance in the medium term," said the minister.
South Africa will provide aid to help Niger overcome its current drought and food and nutritional insecurity by providing 877 tons of fertilizer, 5 000 litres of bio pesticides as well as 12 000 protection kits for workers applying pesticides.
Additionally, South Africa will provide 11 000 tons of animal feed for cattle and goats, 9 000 000 doses of vaccine PPR for livestock, 103 500 tons of food grains, millet and sorghum and nutritional provisions for children and pregnant women, to cater for approximately 22 000 people.
In Mali, South Africa will assist by providing 45 886 tons of millet and sorghum; the provision of dry seeds and potato seeds before the upcoming planting season; nutritional care for babies aged 6 to 59 months, as well as children suffering from acute malnutrition, among others.
South Africa is in consultation with Chad and Mauritania to assess their emergency humanitarian requirements.
Meanwhile, the PSC expressed deep concern over the humanitarian crisis facing several countries in the Sahel region due to environmental degradation, climate change and food insecurity.
The challenges have been aggravated by developments in the Maghreb region, especially by the crisis in Libya, the influx of internally displaced persons, as well as the increase in transnational organised crime, terrorism activities and the proliferation of weapons.
The council called for a more comprehensive and better-coordinated approach in addressing the situation in the Sahel region.
