Food security in Middle East, North Africa deteriorating, says U.N. agency

CAIRO (Reuters) - Food security in the Middle East and North Africa is quickly deteriorating because of conflict in several countries in the region, the United Nations said on Thursday.

In those hardest hit by crises -- Syria, Yemen, Iraq, Libya and Sudan -- an average of more than a quarter of the population was undernourished, the U.N.'s Food and Agriculture Organization said in its annual report on food security.