UN chief to join 'hunger summit' fast

As around 60 heads of state prepare to take part in the World Summit on Food Security, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon is set to join a symbolic 24-hour fast.

The Sunday announcement follows calls by, Jacques Diouf, the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization director, who urged people to fast in global solidarity with the poor ahead of the hunger summit.

The World Summit on Food Security, dubbed the 'hunger summit', opens Monday in Rome.

The fast seeks to raise awareness about the plight of the hungry and to ask for global commitments on the issue of cultivating self-sufficiency in underdeveloped and poor countries.

"The secretary-general intends to join the fast over the weekend," said UN spokeswoman Marie Okabe. He will be fasting in transit, she said.

Okabe hinted that Ban's speech at the summit would seek to underscore "the human cost of the recent food, energy and economic crises," as well as discussing the effects of climate change on food supplies.

The November 16-18 meeting was called by the UN's Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), with the aim of securing an international commitment worth USD 44 billion (EUR 29.7 billion) a year to help poor countries.

It has, however, failed to attract leaders from wealthy countries, with Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi as the only leader from the Group of Eight industrialized countries expected to attend.

Meanwhile, the FAO is not alone in trying to resolve huger crises in poor, famine-hit, or conflict-torn countries.

The UN's World Food Program (WFP) is planning to appeal directly to people in wealthier countries this Saturday via the internet, hoping that around one million would agree to sign up for weekly donations of just one euro (1.48 dollar).

The internet campaign aims to address a significant shortfall in WFP funding.