Two international organisations involved in controlling locust infestations in Africa have all but disappeared despite indications of a major upswing in locust populations. The Organisation to combat the African Migratory Locust (OICMA) was dissolved in February 1986 at a meeting of its Board of Directors in Bamako, Mali. Only three of its seventeen member countries were continuing to support it. The Dakar-based Joint Acridid and Bird Control Organisation (OCLALAV) is also in grave difficulty after having its funding withheld by France and the UN for refusing to undergo certain reforms. All of this is happening when, for the first time in years, there are signs of major locust swarms developing in the Sahel as well as in Saudi Arabia. The s...