Day: June 29, 2022

Mali

US$4 MILLION FROM THE UN CERF TO RESPOND TO THE DISPLACEMENT CRISIS IN MENAKA

On 24 June, the Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator, Martin Griffiths, allocated US$4 million from the United Nations Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF) to provide urgent aid to the displacement crisis in the Menaka region. Since March 2022, clashes between armed groups in this region have resulted in several hundred deaths and displaced approximately 56,000 people, nearly two-thirds of whom are women and children.

Humanitarian partners have provided emergency relief to affected communities despite challenges in accessing them amidst a deteriorating security situation. Nearly half of internally displaced people (IDPs) received food or cash aid. However, 61per cent of IDPs did not receive Shelter, Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene (WASH), and Health assistance.

Protection needs, particularly for children, women, and girls remain high. CERF funds help provide life-saving assistance to the most vulnerable. This year, with this new allocation,

CERF is allocating $22 million to help increase humanitarian aid in Mali, including $18 million for food and nutrition support.

CAMEROON

CLASHES IN THE SOUTHWEST KILL 30 PEOPLE, DISPLACE DOZENS

On 27 June, violent clashes between two communities in Ballin locality, Manyu division, southwest, led to the death of about 30 people and the displacement of dozens of others to the bushes. Several houses and facilities were set ablaze, including the Ballin integrated health centre. According to local sources, the conflict is due to the contesting ownership and use of land for agriculture. Further displacements might take place in this hardto-reach area considering the unstable situation.

TOGO

ABOUT 1,200 BUKINABE REFUGEES IN TOGO DUE TO ARMED ATTACKS

Since 10 and 11 June, hundreds of Burkinabe have been taking refuge in the far north of Togo, fleeing armed groups’ attacks in southeastern Burkina Faso. On 13 June, the Togolese National Agency for Civil Protection (ANPC) provided humanitarian aid, including food, to the Burkinabe refugees registered in the north of Togo. In total, 1,200 refugees from Burkina Faso are currently in north Togo, most of them living with host Togolese families. Water reserves are decreasing, which might have concerning implications on refugees’ health and could lead to competition for access to already limited resources. Humanitarian agencies are mobilizing to provide aid to affected communities as needed, including cash assistance targeting 63,000 people over three months.

BENIN

POLICE OFFICERS KILLED IN AN ATTACK DUE TO A SPILLOVER OF VIOLENCE

In what appears to be a spillover from unrest and violence in neighboring Burkina Faso and Niger, armed groups attacked a police station in Dassari town, Atakora Department, in the northwest on 26 June, killing two police officers and injuring another. No group has so far claimed responsibility for the attack, which is the most recent in a string of violent events in a region where conflict from neighboring Burkina Faso and Niger is spilling over. Attacks by armed groups which operate in northern Benin and the Sahel region of West Africa have increased in the recent weeks. Conflict and violence continue to spread in West Africa, exacerbating already significant humanitarian needs.

Source: UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs

NIAMEY, Niger, 29 June, 2022 – A surge in attacks by armed groups in Mali, Burkina Faso and northern Nigeria in the past six months has forced nearly 36,000 people[1] over the border into the driest parts of Niger, exacerbating a severe hunger crisis with children paying the heaviest price, said Save the Children.

The influx of refugees is putting additional pressure on a country at the forefront of the climate crisis that is battling a spiraling food crisis after a series of failed rainy seasons devastated crops and livestock and decades of desertification. Rising food prices fueled by the war in Ukraine are contributing to the rapidly escalating disaster.

Latest figures show the number of people facing hunger between June and August this year will be 57% more than a year ago[2]. An estimated 3.6 million people – about one seventh of the population – are at risk of severe food insecurity, with almost a half million of children under 5 suffering from the most deadly form of malnutrition[3].

Most of the new arrivals into Niger are women and children in desperate need of food and water, shelter and clothing, as well as access to basic services such as health care and education. Children facing malnutrition are much more susceptible to disease and illnesses, and acute malnutrition can impede their mental and physical development.

This year, in the Sahel region, it is estimated that 6.3 million children under 5 will suffer from malnutrition, of which more than 1.4 million children will suffer from severe acute malnutrition, a 62% jump from 2018.[4] In Niger, children in the east and south of the country, particularly in the regions of Maradi and Zinder, are the most affected.

Families facing one of the most difficult seasons in a decade are now sharing scarce food supplies with people fleeing violence but the crisis is going underreported and is underfunded with other crisis dominating headlines.

Hadjara*, 35, is a refugee and mother from Nigeria, who recently fled to Maradi in Niger with her 3 children. She said:

“We managed to get help in the village, but the last time we got a distribution of food was 3-4 months ago. I do some business activities: millet cake for sale or buy and sell things. I borrow money or grain from the neighbouring village with local communities and when I finish the activity, I pay back the loan. For the harvest season, I work in the fields of the villagers in the area for money or food.

“I want everything to change, everything, at the same time for myself and my family. I want food, millet, sorghum, maize, clothes. I want my children to go to school, I want money to make a small business.”

Dr Adamou Moumouni works at a Save the Children-supported Centre for malnourished children in Aguié’s hospital, Maradi. He said:

“During the lean season (the gap between harvests that starts in June and lasts for about four months) malnutrition cases increase. Here, out of 100 beds, already 75 are occupied. We are expecting a shortfall in the number of beds available in relation to the number of children admitted, which will continue to increase until December. Sometimes they will have to share a bed, which is not ideal. But we have no choice, we must treat them all.

“The centre is taking in more and more children, and admissions can sometimes be five times higher than normal during the lean season, with communities having less to eat.”

Niger, with a population of about 26 million people that is hosting a total of 360,000[5] refugees, regularly faces extreme climate events, with droughts in 2005 and 2010, and exceptional rainfall in 2012 and 2020. The 2010 drought was one of the most severe on record, affecting nearly 7 million people.

Ilaria Manunza, Save the Children Country Director in Niger, said:

“Hopes for this year are starting to fade, with forecasts indicating that the food situation is likely to deteriorate further during the lean season that is already beginning.

“While the world’s attention is focused on the war in Ukraine and other high-profile crises, children are at risk in Niger and in the Sahel. The situation for children is looking dire, we will have failed if we don’t respond in time to help children and their families.”

A humanitarian appeal for $1.8 billion for Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger this year has so far only been funded to 14% as of mid-June[6].

In addition to the effects of climate change and a decade-long conflict in the Sahel, families are facing the threat of epidemics such as measles and cholera.

Insecurity has led to the closure of nearly 800 schools in Niger to date, disrupting the education of almost 68,000 school children.[7]

Save the Children’s work in Niger spans child protection, health, nutrition, food security and livelihoods, education, water and sanitation. The organisation is also actively advancing the resilience agenda. In a context of chronic insecurity, dynamic changes and acute shocks, Save the Children is working to support girls, boys and their families to face chronic vulnerability, seasonal stresses and acute shocks.

Source: Save the Children