From: Nowa Omoigui <nowa_o@yahoo.com>
Date: 8 February 2012 11:47
Subject: NigerianID | UN tackles emergency as thousands flee Malian violence
To: defsec@egroups.com
UN tackles emergency as thousands flee Malian violence
Wednesday, 08 February 2012 00:00 Editor News - World
GUARDIAN
THE United Nations (UN) refugee agency said yesterday it has sent emergency teams to countries surrounding Mali to help them deal with an influx of more than 20,000 people who have fled fighting there, a report by Agence France Presse (AFP) stated.
Clashes between rebel Tuareg groups and governmental forces in the Azawad region of northern Mali broke out in mid-January.
Following the crisis and in the past three weeks, about 10,000 people have reportedly crossed to Niger, 9,000 have found refuge in Mauritania and 3,000 in Burkina Faso, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) said.
According to the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, about two-thirds of the refugees are in the town of Chinegodar in Niger and most of them are camping on an open site under makeshift shelters.
OCHA spokeswoman, Elisabeth Byrs, said the agency was particularly concerned as Chinegodar has dwindling food supplies with only three tons of grain in reserve and the commercial supply from Menaka been interrupted for a week.
Meanwhile, local officials and aid providers have disclosed that thousands of people who fled the ongoing Tuareg rebellion to seek refuge in western Niger are suffering from a severe food-and-water shortage.
"We must fear a humanitarian catastrophe, if nothing is done," Boureima Issaka of the Niger-based aid group, Timidria, said in Chinegodar.
The combat began on January 17, when the Azawad National Liberation Movement (MNLA) launched an attack in northern Mali – the largest offensive by Tuareg rebels since 2009 – sparking clashes with the army.
"We shared with them what little food we had, there is nothing left to eat," Chinegodar village chief, Abdoulaye Mohamed, told the AFP.
The village, which normally numbers 1,600 residents, has also seen its only well dry up, prompting a severe water shortage, according to the village chief.
Children are among those suffering from malnutrition and dehydration in the refugee camp.
"These children are terribly hungry; we can hear their crying every night," said Balki, a Chinegodar resident who is sheltering 10 of the refugees in her modest home.
General conditions in the Niger refugee camp are also poor, according to Boureima Issaka, the aid worker.
"The majority of people no longer bathe; they sleep under the stars at the mercy of wind, cold nights, scorpions and snakes," Issaka said.
Shelters made of blankets and cloth protect the refugees from the hot sun and cold nights, but the situation remains bleak.
A United Nations mission visited the village last week and found conditions to be extremely difficult and the hygiene deplorable, prompting fear of a cholera epidemic.
The crisis is compounded by the fact that the Malian region of Menaka – one of the main flashpoints in the latest fighting – was the principal source of essential commodities for Chinegodar.
For now, the Chinegodar mayor's office has offered the refugee camp half a tonne of cereal, Doctors Without Borders provided a few boxes of medicine and the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) is working on the water supply.
The refugees themselves leave early in the morning to pick berries or pods of "Dani," a thorny plant sought out in times of scarcity.
Still, some refugees have not eaten in days and wait anxiously for aid.
"Give us something to eat, I suffer from dizziness," Nako, a Malian woman in the refugee camp, told a Doctors Without Borders team tallying the number of malnourished children.
Nigerians In Diaspora Organization. Our mission is to promote the spirit of patriotism, networking, and cooperation among Nigerians in Diaspora....
JOIN the PUSH TO RESTORE PRIDE IN NIGERIA at http://www.ProudNigerians.Org |Promote or list your Nigerian Business or Company for FREE at Oyingbo Market, Click http://www.ProudNigerians.Org/2012/2market/
Need a home based business? Check out this new business that I just joined at http://OneX.me/KingWaleAde , It a great way to make money for yourself and the up front money in nothing.
--
You received this message because you are subscribed to the "USA-Africa Dialogue Series" moderated by Toyin Falola, University of Texas at Austin.
For current archives, visit http://groups.google.com/group/USAAfricaDialogue
For previous archives, visit http://www.utexas.edu/conferences/africa/ads/index.html
To post to this group, send an email to USAAfricaDialogue@googlegroups.com
To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to USAAfricaDialogue-
unsubscribe@googlegroups.com
No comments:
Post a Comment