ReliefWeb

SAHEL REGION
VIOLENCE IN THE SAHEL DISPLACES RECORD 2 MILLION PEOPLE

According to UNHCR, the increasing violence in the Sahel has displaced more than two million people in their own countries. The number of people fleeing violence in Burkina Faso, Mali, Niger, and Chad has quadrupled in the past two years. Over 21,000 people in Niger and Burkina Faso have already been forced to leave their homes in 2021. This creates an additional burden on vulnerable host communities. Humanitarian needs are escalating in the Sahel, exacerbated by armed conflict, climate change, extreme poverty, and COVID-19.

CHAD
THOUSANDS OF PEOPLE FROM CAR ARRIVE IN CHAD

Thousands of people have fled the Central African Republic (CAR) due to armed attacks on 22 December 2020, seeking refuge in Chad. As of 18 January, UNHCR reported 4,384 new arrivals including mostly women and children, in the southern Chadian province of Logone oriental. WFP has provided food assistance to 755 people to cover their needs for a month. 2,800 additional people will receive food assistance in the coming days. Health partners are ensuring a regular presence in host villages and in quarantine centers to provide medical consultations, screening, and vaccination for children and pregnant women as well as nutritional screening. The needs in host villages are steadily increasing as the number of new arrivals spikes. Humanitarian partners are planning a multisectoral needs assessment mission in the area.

NEARLY 3,000 NEW IDPS IN THE LAC PROVINCE

Following recent armed attacks in the villages of Kadoulou and Daliarom in Kaiga-Kindjiria sous- prefecture, over 800 people have sought refuge in the displacement site of Diamerom in Liwa sous-prefecture. Additionally, on 16 and 17 January, due to several attacks by non-state armed groups in the Lac Province islands, 2,170 people left their villages in Kangalam sub- prefecture. IDPs are in urgent need of food, shelter, NFIs and water.

CENTRAL AFRICAN REPUBLIC
ALARMING MALNUTRITION RATES IN BANGASSOU

Humanitarian partners found that 41 per cent of children, aged between six months and five years old, among 294 children, are malnourished at the Cesacoba IDP site near Bangassou city in the South-east region. 32 children were screened with Severe Acute Malnutrition (SAM) and 88 with Moderate Acute Malnutrition (MAM). It is suspected that the interruption of nutritional treatment at health facilities due to the attack on Bangassou on 3 January, as well as subsequent difficulties in providing supplements to health facilities, have led to high relapse rates. Humanitarian partners are providing treatment for children suffering from SAM and mobilizing to also provide supplements to treat MAM cases.

NIGERIA
SCALED-UP MOBILIZATION AGAINST COVID-19 AMID SPIKE IN CASES

With 880 COVID-19 confirmed cases and 36 related deaths, Borno State is the most affected region in the North-east. Partners are intensifying multi-sectoral response activities including risk mitigation and awareness-raising messaging, community mobilization, active case search and contact tracing, and the provision of water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) services - prioritizing high-risk locations. WASH interventions reached 60,000 people in densely populated communities in MMC and Jere Local Government Areas (LGA) – including the distribution of hygiene kits and the construction of latrines. Partners also installed and rehabilitated solar-powered boreholes across IDP camps and host communities while radio listening sessions on COVID-19 risks and treatment protocols are ongoing.