NAIROBI, May 12 (Xinhua) -- Global lawmakers concluded a six-day meeting in Nairobi on Friday by appealing for increased emergency food aid to drought-hit countries in Africa.

    The legislators from more than 100 countries called the world'smost industrialized nations to speed up aid to the continent ravaged by conflict, poverty and HIV/AIDS, emphasizing those particular efforts are made to reach desperate poor populations.

    The more than 1,500 delegates from 117 parliaments across the world also urged governments to collectively meet their commitments in the consolidated appeals from humanitarian agenciesto avert the massive deaths and sufferings in Africa.

    In their resolution adopted at the end of the week-long meeting,the legislators called on parties to ensure that food relief programs are not used for political ends and that food reach thosein need without political interference.

    "The meeting makes a pressing and urgent appeal for increased supplies of emergency food assistance to be made available to drought-affected nations in Africa and calls on governments collectively to meet the targets contained in the repeated appealsfrom international agencies, especially WFP for such assistance," they resolved.

    More than 20 Africa countries are currently in need of aid, largely due to adverse weather, conflict and economic crisis.

    In east Africa, recent rains have somewhat eased drought in pastoral areas of Ethiopia, Somalia, Kenya and Djibouti, but nearly 8 million people are still suffering from the effects.

    When the chronically vulnerable populations in these countries are included, the number of those at risk from hunger jumps to about 24 million.

    The lawmakers called on African governments to encourage peoplein the affected areas to end certain practices that promote hostilities, including cattle rustling.

    "We call on governments to facilitate conflict resolution in affected areas in order to ensure human security," the lawmakers who have been meeting in Nairobi for the past week, urged.

    The legislators also called on developed countries to extend and implement debt cancellation programs in respect of all Africancountries affected by drought-induced famine.

    "We strongly urge the developed countries substantially to increase their financial assistance, notably through innovative sources of financing for development, for the specific purpose of improving agricultural industry in affected countries with a view to boosting food production and thus ensuring food security," the lawmakers said.

    They also urged international and multilateral institutions to review their policies and programs to ensure that these do not in any way detract from or undermine policies pursued by countries toensure food security.

    The food shortages have been caused by many factors, but primarily erratic weather and inputs that were late or too expensive, such as seeds and fertilizer, the legislators noted.

    Chronic poverty and the HIV/AIDS pandemic have also been significant contributors to the problems of agricultural output, they said.

    Food security experts say although the current rains pounding some countries in Africa may provide temporary relief, millions ofpeople will still have to rely on food aid for some time to come, and it is clear the crisis is far from over. Enditem