EU allocates €201 million in humanitarian aid for Sahel and Africa's Lake Chad countries

The Commission is providing €201 million in EU humanitarian funding to address the needs of the most vulnerable people affected by the humanitarian crisis in Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Chad, Mali, Mauritania, Niger and Nigeria. The announcement comes on the occasion of the Senior Officials Meeting on Sahel and Lake Chad, attended by Commissioner Janez Lenarčič in Brussels.

The funding will support food security and assistance for malnutrition, health care and protection, water, sanitation and hygiene, shelter and education activities, as well as the transportation of humanitarian workers and supplies to remote and inaccessible locations.

The EU humanitarian aid response will continue to focus on the countries and areas directly affected by ongoing insecurity and conflict, including West Africa’s coastal countries already impacted by the spillover from Central Sahel.

The overall funding will support humanitarian projects in:

• Burkina Faso (€26.9 million);
• Cameroon (€21 million);
• Chad (€57.9 million, including the newly allocated €8.7 million in response to the consequences of the conflict in Sudan to the neighboring countries and another €3.1 million to support an EU Humanitarian Air Bridge operation in the East, in addition to the initial €45.3 million announced by Commissioner Lenarčič during his visit to the country at the end of January 2024);
• Mali (€24 million);
• Mauritania (€5.7 million, including the reinforcement of €3 million allocated in January 2024 in response to the increasing number of Malian refugees in Mauritania);
• Niger (€24.6 million);
• Nigeria (€31.5 million).

The funding also supports the response to epidemics and population movement, through the allocation of €2.4 million through the Emergency Toolbox, an instrument to assist in sudden-onset crises specifically dedicated to emergency response for vulnerable people outside the EU.