The population of a number of countries, particularly in Africa, is facing hunger not because of the events in Ukraine, the president of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) Peter Maurer said at a press conference in Geneva, reports TASS.

He pointed out that this problem predates the Ukrainian crisis and has a systemic nature.

Maurer called the agreement on the export of grain from Ukraine, concluded in July in Istanbul, critically important, and also called for expanding and accelerating the pace of its implementation.

"However, if we are talking about a famine today, it is not because of the Ukrainian war," he said.

According to him, indications of the emergence of a food insecurity crisis in Africa were observed much earlier than the escalation in Ukraine.

As he noted, this is a long-term systemic issue and must be addressed, because otherwise food crises will happen again and again.