UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, expressed alarm over growing insecurity in Burkina Faso, where hundreds of thousands of people have already been driven from their homes and now face the added uncertainty brought by the arrival of COVID-19.
UNHCR spokesperson Babar Baloch told journalists that recent militant attacks had targeted some 25,000 Malian refugees, who lived in remote camps near the border of Burkina Faso and Mali.
“Most of these refugees have now chosen to return home despite still facing insecurity there as well. They judged it was the lesser of two evils. The arrival of COVID-19 has added a new element of insecurity into the mix,” Baloch stated.
Baloch recalled that as violence has swept the entire Sahel region, Burkina Faso has witnessed a massive displacement of more than 838,000 people since January 2019 – a figure which keeps climbing with each passing day.
Xavier Creach, UNHCR’s Coordinator for the Sahel region, warned the situation in Burkina Faso was rapidly becoming untenable with multi-layered crises risking a humanitarian catastrophe.
“Local communities have demonstrated remarkable generosity but cannot cope anymore. National capacities are overwhelmed. The approaching lean season, coupled with the armed conflict and the COVID-19, will generate further dramatic situations and displacement of populations. The clock is ticking, we have little time left,” he said.
With the closing of the camp school, and health centre and even the camp’s security post, about half of the residents, who reached Gao, Mopti and Timbuktu regions in northern Mali earlier this week, cited insecurity and armed attacks as the reason to leave.
Many of those living in leaving Goudoubou camp said they left after receiving warnings of more attacks if they did leave from armed militants.
However, the volatile security situation in Mali does not allow many to return to their places of origin. Insecurity persists and authorities have imposed a curfew as part of its COVID-19 response, which has further fuelled security and health concerns among vulnerable groups.
UNHCR works with authorities and partners on the ground, providing returning refugees with shelter, relief items and cash to support their initial needs. UNHCR is also planning to provide the authorities with needed health and hygiene equipment as part of the response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Original source: UNHCR
Published on 03 April 2020
