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The Netherlands donates extra humanitarian aid to the Sahel

Countries
Mali
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Govt. Netherlands
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The Dutch government is making €5.3 million extra available for humanitarian aid to Mali, where a food crisis is affecting over 4 million people. A conflict is also raging in the northern part of this Sahel country. As a result, around 160,000 people have become displaced in Mali itself, while over 180,000 Malian refugees have fled to neighbouring countries.

The UN refugee agency UNHCR will receive €4 million for the reception of displaced persons in Mali and of Malian refugees in neighbouring countries. Oxfam Novib will receive €1.3 million towards aid for the most vulnerable population in the Kayes region of West Mali. Besides providing food aid, Oxfam Novib will support local efforts to structurally improve methods of preventing food crises or mitigating their effects, for instance by setting up warning systems.

This contribution comes on top of the €4.9 million that the Netherlands had already donated to countries in the Sahel, namely €2 million for Chad via the UN food agency WFP, €2 million for Niger via the UN children’s fund UNICEF and €0.9 million for Burkina Faso and Chad via the Dutch Red Cross.

Although bilateral development cooperation with the central government in Mali has been suspended due to the conflict, the Netherlands is still working where it can to provide systemic solutions through NGOs active in the country. Through its embassy, for example, it is supporting the food security programme set up by CARE near Mopti in eastern Mali.