Photo gallery: A Snapshot of Life for the Displaced in Mali's Capital, Bamako

 By Helene Caux, Senior Regional Public Information Officer for West Africa

 

 Click on the picture to see full gallery

Twenty-year-old law student Fatoumata with her baby niece and her younger sister, Larene, in their spartan living area in Bamako. They fled their home in the Gao region in late May after their father was killed by rebels. They pay about US$40 for rent, but there is no electricity and they have to share a bathroom and toilet with another displaced family.
© UNHCR/H.Caux

Almost a year after fighting erupted in northern Mali between government troops and a Tuareg rebel movement, almost 200,000 people are internally displaced in Mali. Most have fled to areas in the south of the county, including Segou, Mopti, Kayes and the capital, Bamako, where some 47,000 people have found refuge. They come mainly from the Timbuktu and Gao regions, which are now under the control of Islamic extremist groups.

Many of the displaced have been victims of human rights abuses at the hands of the armed groups and Islamic extremists operating in the north. Women and girls have been raped, men have had limbs amputated, people have been tortured or murdered. In Bamako, many of the survivors of abuse are in urgent need of medical and psychological assistance. In addition, the internally displaced in urban areas struggle to make ends meet, buy food, pay their rent and secure employment. The children often go to school on an empty stomach in the morning. The international community, including UNHCR and its partners, urgently need funding to help the most vulnerable displaced people in Mali. The following images depict daily life in Bamako for internally displaced people.

Follow UNHCR @refugees
Follow Helene Caux