VATICAN CITY - Pope Benedict XVI urged the international community to address the problems of poverty and malnutrition in Africa's Sahel region.

"The Sahel was seriously threatened again in recent months by a notable decrease in food resources and by famine caused by a lack of rain and the resulting increase in desertification," the pope told members of the John Paul II Foundation for the Sahel.

He said that for residents of the Sahel, "living conditions are deteriorating."