Millions pledged to avert African famine

COPENHAGEN, Denmark — A group of countries pledged at least $672 million at an international donor conference Friday to prevent a famine in the African countries around the Lake Chad Basin.

“We have now started an important process,” said Norwegian Foreign Minister Borge Brende, whose country pledged $192 million over a three-year period to tackle “a serious humanitarian situation” in the region encompassing Nigeria, Cameroon, Chad and Niger.

“We expect more pledges in the future,” said Brende, who co-hosted the one-day conference in Oslo with Germany, Nigeria and the United Nations. “The United States have said they would come back later,” and other countries may chip in too, he added.

His German counterpart Sigmar Gabriel said Germany added $127 million.

The United Nations has started an appeal for more than $1 billion for Nigeria and the Lake Chad region, which are enduring the worst humanitarian crisis in Africa.