Medical agency suspends health and nutrition services in northern Mali where separatists are fighting for independent homeland
DAKAR (AlertNet) - Aid agency Medecins du Monde has suspended its health and nutrition operations in northern Mali because of growing insecurity in the region.
Fighting erupted in northern Mali last month between the Malian army and Tuareg rebels who say they want independence for Azawad – Mali’s three northern regions of Kidal, Timbuktu and Gao.
They have gained ground in a three-pronged advance, scattering thousands across Mali's north and beyond its borders.
“We suspended activities of Medecins du Monde in northern Mali because the situation in the Kidal region does not allow us to implement our activities,” said Pierre Verbeeren, the director general of the Belgian arm of the charity also known as Doctors of the World.
“The fighting and insecurity makes it difficult to provide assistance to people and assure the security of Medecins du Monde staff,” he told AlertNet on the phone from Brussels.
He said the charity’s teams were still in northern Mali although their work had been suspended until security improves.
Thousands of people have fled towns and villages in northern Mali with many hiding in the bushes and others crossing the borders to neighbouring countries.
Aid groups say more than 10,000 people have sought refuge in Niger, while 9000 have crossed into Mauritania and another 3000 have fled to Burkina Faso.
People who have stayed behind cannot access healthcare as local health workers have fled to the south of the country to escape the fighting, Medecins du Monde said.
“We are there to support the national healthcare system and we don’t have the staff to replace all the nurses, midwives, doctors and other health personnel who are normally supposed to work in those healthcare facilities,” Verbeeren added.
Medecins du Monde is also concerned that the humanitarian space is being reduced at a time when aid groups are getting ready to respond to a looming food crisis in the West African Sahel region which includes northern Mali.
In the coming months, between 5 and 9 million people risk going hungry in the Sahel, a semi-arid region just below the Sahara. Erratic rainfall, drought and insect infestations have led to poor harvests in countries including Niger, Chad, Mali, Burkina Faso, Mauritania and Senegal.
“We have had to suspend a planned programme to respond to malnutrition in the region of Gao and in parts of the region of Kidal and that would surely have an impact on the population,” Verbeeren added.
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