DAKAR (AlertNet) – Insecurity has forced hundreds of thousands of people to flee their homes in northern Mali as a humanitarian crisis unfolds there, the United Nations has said.
Violence erupted in mid-January when Tuareg-led rebels of the National Movement for the Liberation of the Azawad launched a bid to create an independent state in the desert north of Mali. Taking advantage of the chaos after the March 22 coup in the capital Bamako, a mix of separatist and Islamist rebels seized the northern two-thirds of the country in early April.
Here is an update on the displacements caused by the crisis and the challenges to the humanitarian response.
NUMBER OF UPROOTED PEOPLE
· An estimated more than 320,000 people have fled their homes due to the conflict, a spokesman for the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said. This includes 132,000 internally displaced persons (IDPs) in the country, according figures from the Mali government and the World Food Programme (WFP).
· The government said about 25,000 of these IDPs were living with host families in Bamako.
· Aid groups say many people fleeing the north have also settled in the cities of Segou and Mopti, which are still under the control of the Malian government. However, tens of thousands more people are living in makeshift shelters around rebel-held areas in the north of the country.
· About 157,000 people have fled to neighbouring countries including Mauritania (61,000), Burkina Faso (57,000), Niger (39,000) and Algeria (30,000), said a spokesman for OCHA.
HUMANITARIAN ACCES
· Limited access to help civilians in need of water, food, shelter and healthcare remains a key concern in northern Mali, aid groups say.
· While waiting for improved access, aid groups responding to the crisis have nonetheless been able to transport some aid, especially medicines, to the north. The ICRC sent a convoy from Niamey in Niger on April 17, that delivered medicines and medical supplies to the hospital in the northern town of Gao, enabling the hospital to treat between 300 and 500 sick patients and around 100 casualties of the fighting.
· A number of medical charities are providing healthcare including Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF), Medecins du Monde (MDM), the Alliance for International Medical Action (ALIMA) and the ICRC.
· Most agencies have withdrawn their expatriate staff for security reasons.
CONDITIONS OF REFUGEES
· U.N. agencies and several aid groups have been responding to the needs of Malian refugees in Niger, Burkina Faso and Mauritania. But, with the number of refugees constantly rising, there have been concerns about insufficient sanitation conditions in some camps, as well as the lack of adequate water supplies and food.
· MSF said on April 19 that 57,000 refugees at the Mbera camp in Mauritania had only 100 communal latrines and just 9 litres of water per person per day. The medical charity has also said access to food, water and basic shelter had continued to deteriorate for refugees in Burkina Faso.
· The U.N. Refugee Agency (UNHCR) says it plans to establish extra camps in Niger to accommodate more refugees. The agency says it is developing the Mbera camp in Mauritania to improve living conditions, with its partner Solidarités International.
· With two new boreholes operational and four more planned in Ferrerio refugee site in Burkina Faso, 15,000 to 16,000 refugees are expected to receive an average of 15 litres of water per person per day, the UNHCR said. Two boreholes per site are also being drilled in four other refugee sites in Burkina Faso.
· UNCHR launched an appeal for $35.6 million in February to assist Malian refugees and IDPs. But the response from donors has been slow, with just $12.6 million pledged so far, a spokeswoman for the agency said.
Sources: UNHCR, OCHA, WFP, MSF, ICRC
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