Crisis in Mali disrupting schooling of 700,000 children

 

 By UN News Centre

The education of some 700,000 children in Mali has been disrupted due to the violence in the country, the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) said last week, adding that there is an urgent need to rebuild schools, train teachers and provide learning supplies.

A student writes on a chalkboard at a school in Bamako, Mali. Credit: UNICEF/Tanya Bindra

Northern Mali has been occupied by radical Islamists after fighting broke out in January 2012 between Government forces and Tuareg rebels. The conflict uprooted hundreds of thousands of people and prompted the Malian Government to request assistance from France to stop the military advance of extremist groups.

Since the violence began over a year ago, at least 115 schools in the north were closed, destroyed, looted and sometimes contaminated with unexploded ordnance. Of the 700,000 children affected, 200,000 still have no access to school, UNICEF said in a news release.

Many teachers were among those displaced and have not returned to the northern part of the country. Instead, they are working in the already overcrowded schools in the south, which cannot cope with the amount of displaced students from the north.

Interview with David Gressly, UN Regional Humanitarian Coordinator for the Sahel

 

By the United Nations Regional Information Center for Western Europe (UNRIC)

What does food security mean? How serious is the situation right now in the Sahel? How does the military intervention affect the humanitarian situation?

Learn more about UNRIC

Follow UNRIC on twitter

L’OIM au secours de migrants tchadiens en détresse expulsés de Libye

Par l´Organisation Internationale pour les migrations (OIM)

Tchad – L’OIM a distribué de la nourriture, de l’eau et des médicaments à un groupe de 32 migrants tchadiens arrivés la semaine dernière au bureau de l’OIM à Faya-Largeau, dans une région reculée au nord du Tchad, après avoir été expulsés de Libye.

Credit: OIM

Depuis juillet dernier, trois groupes de migrants tchadiens ont été expulsés de Libye. Plus de 150 000 travailleurs migrants tchadiens avaient déjà quitté le pays en 2011, après le renversement du régime précédent.

Epuisés et malades, les membres du groupe, tous des hommes, ont expliqué à l’OIM qu’ils travaillaient dans différents endroits en Libye, occupant généralement des emplois temporaires peu et non qualifiés. Ils ont dit qu’ils avaient été détenus, et certains ont affirmé avoir été maltraités.

Ils ont déclaré que par le passé, en tant que ressortissants tchadiens, ils n’avaient pas besoin de documents pour vivre en Libye. Mais, aujourd’hui, les autorités libyennes ont commencé à exiger des documents et ont fermé les frontières avec le Tchad, le Niger et le Soudan. La plupart des membres du groupe ont été arrêtés parce qu’ils n’avaient pas de permis de travail.

Mahamat Zene Issa a raconté à l’OIM qu’avant le déclenchement de la crise, il vivait depuis cinq ans avec sa famille, composée de trois personnes, à Sebha, une ville au sud de la Libye. Sa famille avait pu rentrer au Tchad avec un convoi d’évacuation de l’OIM, mais lui a décidé de rester en Libye pour continuer à y travailler.

Aid worker diary: The young girls and boys of Mali

By Maria Mutya Frio, Communications Manager at World Vision

 

Credit: Maria Mutya Frio/ World Vision

Today is unlike any other Wednesday. I am in Mali talking to families who fled the violence in the latest armed conflict to rock the West African country. In recent weeks, I have watched Mali grab headlines as government and French troops launch a military campaign against armed opposition groups. Reportedly enforcing a strict interpretation of Sharia law, these groups had been occupying Mali’s northern provinces since last year. As I read the news, I shake my head – not another war. At a certain point, I go numb from reading stories about the military intervention. But I carry on with my day.

Today is different. I am in San province working for the charity organization World Vision which is responding to the needs of displaced people who came in exodus from the north. I am face to face with the displaced Malians who shake my hand and look me in the eye as they share their stories. Suddenly the statistics on TV have a human face.

In December, Namina* escaped from Timbuktu, the historic homeland of the Tuaregs and one of the areas which fell under rebel groups’ control. Namina left with her three daughters and six other children from her village. Her neighbor and their 16-year old daughter Sata were left behind.

Civilians continue to flee military offensive in Mali; internal return prospects mixed

By Helene Caux & William Spindler, UNHCR - Mali

 

 The UN refugee agency said on Friday 1 February that the fast-evolving military situation in the north of Mali has raised hopes that many displaced people will be able to go back to their homes soon, but considerable challenges remain.

"To the extent that refugee numbers are a barometer of the situation, UNHCR notes that refugees are still fleeing to neighbouring countries," spokesman Adrian Edwards noted.

In the Mali capital, Bamako, UNHCR staff have interviewed displaced families who say they are ready to return to their homes in the Gao, Timbuktu and Kidal regions as soon as the roads to the north are reopened. Bus services to Gao and Timbuktu have been suspended because of the conflict.

Bus companies in Bamako confirm that they are receiving phone calls from people asking about the resumption of regular services to Douentza, Gao and Timbuktu. Buses are presently travelling only as far as the towns of Mopti and Sevare.

Interview with David Gressly, Regional Humanitarian Coordinator for the Sahel

 

By UNOCHA

Learn more about David Gressly

Latest updates on people displaced by the fighting in central and northern Mali, ways to provide humanitarian aid to cut- off communities in Mali, significant changes in the Sahel region since 2012, updates on the Sahel Resilience Strategy and main challenges as the Regional Humanitarian Coordinator for the Sahel.

Dernière mise au point sur les personnes déplacées par le conflit récent au nord du Mali, moyens alternatifs pour que l´aide humanitaire arrive aux communautés isolées au Mali, changements significatifs dans la région du Sahel depuis 2012, nouvelles sur la stratégie de la résilience au Sahel et défis principaux du Coordonnateur Humanitaire Régional pour le Sahel.

Interview in English

 Interview en français

Humanitarian situation in Mali deteriorates after latest wave of fighting

By the UN News Center

The latest round of military clashes over the weekend between the Malian army and radical Islamist groups have sparked a new wave of displacement and led to a worsening of the humanitarian situation in the North African country, the United Nations warned today.

A displaced Malian woman prepares dinner for her family in the capital, Bamako. Photo: UNHCR/H. Caux

According to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), more than 30,000 people fled their homes over the weekend, coinciding with the declaration of a state of emergency by the Government and the beginning of a French air operation in support of the Malian army, bringing the number of internally displaced persons (IDPs) to over 200,000.

The most under-reported humanitarian disasters of 2012

By David Bull, Executive Director UNICEF UK

Every year, humanitarian disasters take a devastating toll on the lives and futures of millions of children around the world, and 2012 was no exception. The numbers of children affected are staggering, so much that it is hard to comprehend why so many of these disasters rarely make the headlines.

UNICEF began the year having issued a stark warning in December 2011 that more than one million children would suffer from severe, life-threatening malnutrition in the Sahel region of West Africa and would need specialist treatment. This nutrition crisis, caused by a combination of drought and high food prices, would require an unprecedented response by governments, UNICEF and other UN agencies, and humanitarian organisations if we were to avert a catastrophe.

It was not a famine, but we were talking about a huge number of very young children at risk of starvation, and the lack of media interest in this crisis was both surprising and incredibly frustrating. When fighting escalated in Mali (one of the nine affected countries in the Sahel region), the number of people needing emergency assistance increased not just in Mali, but also in neighbouring countries that were hosting refugees. The conflict and the political crisis sparked some media interest, but once again, there were hardly any reports of the situation of people being forced to flee their homes, or of the worsening nutrition crisis.