SITUATION OVERVIEW

The fourth round of the Displacement Tracking Matrix (DTM), conducted in June 2015, showed 1.4 million internally displaced persons (IDPs) in six states of North-East Nigeria. 56 per cent (775,767) of the displaced population are children and half of them (387,883) are children under five years old. In addition, 223,141 IDPs have returned to the northern region of Adamawa state.

The Protection Monitoring Summary of June 2015 reveals forced displacement, killing and security incidents as the most prevalent protection abuses. The main categories of persons with specific needs include the elderly, child heads of household, pregnant/nursing mothers and female heads of household. Killing of civilians, armed encounters and destruction of property make up the top safety concerns in affected communities. Destruction of housing/property, destruction of crops, land-related conflicts and forced evictions are cited as key protection concerns for land and property.

The rains in North-East Nigeria have been delayed. Insecurity has also affected people's access to food. At least 3.5 million are in food crisis and emergency phases, and need food assistance.

An El Nino event active since March 2015 will almost certainly last through 2015 and is likely to extend into early 2016.

The intensity of this event is increasing with a peak expected in the last quarter of 2015 and there is a significant chance that it may become one of the strongest events of the past 30 years.

The timing of the event means that it will influence all growing seasons of the northern hemisphere (broadly from May to October) as well as those of equatorial regions (Horn of Africa, Indonesia) of late 2015 and of southern Africa and South America from late 2015 to early 2016.

The possible impacts are wide ranging and mostly negative for WFP beneficiaries.

The fourth round of the Displacement Tracking Matrix (DTM) published in June 2015 showed 1.4 million people are still internally displaced (IDPs) in the northeast states of Nigeria. 56 per cent (775,767) of the displaced population are children, half of whom (387,883) are children under five years old. Despite the relative decrease in the number of displaced persons compared to the previous DTM round, due to spontanous return, Borno state continues to host the highest number of IDPs: 80 per cent of the IDPs population. In addition, 223,141 IDPs have returned to the north of Adamawa state.
The Protection Monitoring Summary of June 2015 reveals forced displacement, killing and security incidents as the most prevalent protection abuses.

A la une :

Vers la fin du programme CC WASH LRRD

Depuis le dernier bulletin d’info publié en mars 2015, les activités du programme CC WASH LRRD ont avancé et sont désormais bientôt achevées. Les deux études sur la gestion des points d’eau et sur le plan de formation ont été finalisées, les résultats présentées lors d’ateliers nationaux (voir article dédié); les travaux de réhabilitation ont bien progressé ou sont déjà terminés pour certaines structures, les séances d’animation auprès des populations ont permis de faire passer des messages sur les bonnes pratiques d’hygiène et de mettre en place des structures de gestion des points d’eau pour permettre leur durabilité. Des techniques de sensibilisation innovantes ont été testées comme le cinéma numérique ambulant (voir article dédié). Les formations réalisées à destination des DRH, collectivités et ONG locales ont permis le renforcement des capacités des partenaires. Le programme arrivant à sa fin et les résultats étant positifs, les acteurs réfléchissent désormais à la suite afin de consolider les acquis et aller au-delà.

By Mamoudou Lamine Kane

NOUAKCHOTT, 9 July 2015 (IRIN) - Nearly 50,000 Malian refugees are at risk following the suspension of food aid to their camp in southeastern Mauritania, with NGOs warning of a significant increase in acute malnutrition, particularly among children under five, and pregnant and lactating women.

See: Thousands flee violent upsurge in northern Mali

“We have literally been without rations for two months now,” Amsaleh Ould Mohamed, president of the management team at the M’Berra camp, told IRIN.

The World Food Programme (WFP), which supplies the majority of the camp’s food aid, including rice, vegetables, oil, sugar and salt, says it has insufficient funds to continue operations.

WFP already cut supplies in June, reducing rice rations by more than half, from 12 kilograms per person to 5.4 kilograms.

Some refugees at M’berra have started raising livestock and others have set up small businesses selling soap and other goods, but most rely on outside aid, including food rations, for their survival.

“Refugees have tried to grow [produce] in communal gardens, but extreme heat, sandstorms and insects destroy most of the plantations,” said Maya Walet Mohamed, head of the women’s committee at the camp.

Moulay* (last name withheld), a Malian refugee and one of a dozen or so butchers and animal dealers in the camp, has started accepting good-faith loans because of the dire food situation.

“I often accept credit for cows and camels, and then I’m repaid after their resale," he told IRIN. “But during hard times, like now, I pay the difference in credit (between sale and resale) out of my own pocket.”

Due to the combination of a recent drought and the food suspension, people no longer have livestock or goods to trade or resell to buy meat, Moulay said.

“Sometimes they come with personal possessions to convince me to sell them one or two kilos of meat, such as shoes, more or less new, or even a TV antenna,” he told IRIN.

Malnutrition

It is too soon to say what impact this latest suspension will have, but when food distribution was stopped in March, Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) saw a “clear increase” in the number of sick children in its nutritional programmes at M’berra. Before the cancellation, an average of 30 kids were admitted per month. After the suspension, the number jumped to 79.

“Any further stop in regular rations could degrade the health status of the camp,” said Mohamed Gbane, MSF’s medical coordinator for Mauritania. Gbane explained that malnutrition “opens the door” to other illnesses such as respiratory infections and diarrhoea.

“Safeguarding the health of refugees depends on a package of humanitarian aid, including, crucially, a balanced diet,” the doctor said. “Diseases in the camp have been relatively stable, but there is still currently a decrease in the level of nutritional health, which coincides with the ceasing of the distribution of food rations.”

When MSF began operations in the camp in 2012, acute malnutrition for children under five was around 20 percent. Thanks to cooperation with WFP and other partners, the rate fell to nine percent by the first half of 2014.

“It would be a tragic if we let the most vulnerable return to catastrophic levels,” Gbane said. The timing of the interruption of food supplies is particularly bad as it coincides with the region’s lean season, when stocks of the staple crops are already low.

“The lean period is extremely difficult this year,” camp coordinator Mohamed Ag Melah told IRIN. “Our livestock is dying [due to drought] and our children are increasingly ill. If nothing is done shortly, this cocktail can cause disastrous consequences in terms of health.”

He urged donors to take responsibility.

“With the ration crisis, our family of eight, which includes four children, has not been able to nourish itself correctly,” 25-year-old Souley Ag Hassan, who fled Gao in northeastern Mali in 2013, told IRIN. “Food is our priority.”

More money needed

WFP says it needs around $600,000 per month to cover the cost of food distribution in the camp. As of early July, the project was just 35 percent funded through September.

“The camp has been totally forgotten by donors because today international politics are focused on other crises like Syria and Ebola,” said April Benedict, head of the MSF mission in Mauritania.

“It was naively believed that after the signing of the peace agreements in Mali, that refugees would return home, but… recent attacks and looting of cities and villages in northern Mali have confirmed that it will still take time before the refugees feel safe enough to go back.”

Janne Suvanto, a spokesperson for WFP in Mauritania, assured IRIN that: “International donors have since found an emergency solution and we’re looking at the possibility of borrowing from the sub-region.”

Suvanto said that with the emergency funds, WFP hopes to fulfill at least 40 percent of food needs in the camp by mid-July, but that this is contingent on approval by donors. Even 40 percent wouldn’t be enough to cover all the needs in the camp and they would still have to start just with the most vulnerable women and children.

MSF project coordinator Rene Colgo made the point that all the emergency health support they provide at M’berra is rendered fairly useless if refugees are sick through lack of food.

mk/jl/ag

Porte-parole : Olivier Salgado

Attaque contre la MINUSMA du 2 juillet sur l’axe Goundam-Tombouctou

Le 2 juillet à Tombouctou le Commandant de la Force de la MINUSMA avait rendu hommage aux 6 Casques bleus tombés. Ce matin à Bamako, une cérémonie d’hommage s’est également tenue au siège de la MINUSMA devant tout le personnel de la Mission. Concernant les blessés, la MINUSMA a évacué les 4 soldats grièvement atteints vers Dakar, un autre est actuellement en traitement à l’hôpital de la MINUSMA de Tombouctou. Nous leur souhaitons un prompt rétablissement tout en condamnant fermement la violence aveugle visant civils et Casques bleus au Mali.

Sécurité

Le 4 juillet, un convoi logistique de la MINUSMA en route de Gao à Kidal et escorté par la Force de la MINUSMA a essuyé des tirs dans les environs de Tinakor à environ 70 km au nord de Gao. Deux véhicules civils ont été touchés par les tirs, mais aucune victime n’est à déplorer. Malgré des recherches par une patrouille MINUSMA dépêchée sur place, les agresseurs n’ont pas pu être identifiés, le convoi a poursuivi son voyage vers Tinakor sans encombre. Le Service de lutte anti-mines de la MINUSMA, UNMAS, renforcera ce mois-ci ses capacités régionales à Mopti en réponse à l’accroissement des menaces liées aux engins explosifs dans cette zone. A ce sujet, plus de 800 membres de l’armée togolaise ont déjà été formés au Togo par la MINUSMA le mois dernier afin d’être pleinement opérationnel lors de leur déploiement au Mali en août prochain. D’autre part, une nette augmentation des accidents impliquant des engins explosifs a été observée depuis le mois de Mai 2015, faisant 14 victimes en quelques semaines. UNMAS intensifie ses efforts, notamment en multipliant ses activités d’éducation aux risques.

Ménaka

La situation reste calme à Ménaka et dans les environs. Le déploiement de la Force de la MINUSMA, ainsi que de ses policiers UNPOL se poursuit comme prévu, pour renforcer la sécurisation de la ville.

La présence de la MINUSMA se traduit sur le terrain par :

des patrouilles régulières dans la ville et ses environs, de jour comme de nuit, l’établissement de points de contrôle aux entrées et aux sorties de la ville, des escortes au profit du personnel civil de la MINUSMA, des ONG et acteurs humanitaires La MINUSMA poursuit également son engagement avec la société civile et la population de Ménaka en organisant par exemple des rencontres avec des membres du Conseil des jeunes de Ménaka, des groupes de femmes ou plus généralement des habitants.

Affaires électorales

Dans le cadre de l’exécution des opérations de Révision Exceptionnelle des Listes Electorales en prélude à l’organisation des élections Communales, Régionales et du District de Bamako prévues pour le 25 octobre prochain, la Division Electorale de la MINUSMA a apporté une fois de plus son appui au Ministère de l’Administration Territoriale et de la Décentralisation ainsi qu’à la Délégation Générale aux Elections. Plus d’une tonne de documents électoraux ont été convoyés et déployés dans les chefs-lieux des régions de Tombouctou et de Gao.

Stabilisation et Relèvement, page spéciale QIPs

Financés par la MINUSMA, les Projets à Impact Rapide (ou Quick Impact Projects - QIPs) sont des microprojets communautaires. Ces projets sont d'un coût maximal de 50,000 dollars US dans les domaines de la réhabilitation des services et petites infrastructures publiques, la formation et la sensibilisation, la création d’emplois et de revenu.

Ces projets doivent avoir un effet à la fois rapide et durable répondant aux besoins prioritaires de la population et ont pour but d’établir un climat de confiance dans le processus de paix, la Mission et son mandat.

Entre le 1er juillet 2015 et le 30 juin 2016, un budget de 4 millions de dollars sera consacré à environs 114 QIPs. Ces projets bénéficieront principalement aux régions du Nord et soutiendrons les demandes provenant du gouvernement malien, des ONG internationales et nationales, des agences internationales et de la société civile malienne.

Deux projets à impact rapide sont actuellement en exécution dans la région de Kidal :

Aguelhok :
Un Projet à Impact Rapide de la MINUSMA visant l’électrification de la commune d’Aguelhok s’est concrétisée. Ce projet non seulement permettra l'accès à l'électricité à une bonne partie de la population, mais également à l'eau et permettra de meilleures conditions sanitaires car les habitants se fournissaient jusqu’à présent au même endroit que les animaux, ce qui provoquait de nombreuses maladies.

Kidal :
La mise en œuvre d’un projet pour la reconstitution du cheptel à Kidal est bien avancée. 140 caprins sur 300 prévus, ont été achetés et distribués à 28 ménages jusqu’à présent, d’autres distributions suivront. Ce projet permet de sécuriser les revenus des éleveurs et de fournir un appui aux ménages en alimentation, lait et viande. L’ONG TOUMAST est en charge de l’exécution du projet sur place.

Gao :
A Gao, la MINUSMA finance, à travers un projet à impact rapide et à hauteur de plus de 41 millions de FCFA, la réhabilitation du premier et second cycle ainsi que les locaux de la direction de l’école du camp militaire ‘Firhoun’. L’école s’était retrouvée dans un état délabré suite au pillage survenu en 2012. Les portes, les fenêtres, les toitures, les bancs ont été emportés et l’administration de l’école a été complètement mise à sac. Les travaux ont été officiellement lancés mardi par la MINUSMA en présence des autorités locales, très satisfaites par l’initiative de la Mission.

Autres questions

La semaine dernière, la Représentante Spéciale adjointe du Secrétaire général de la MINUSMA Mme Mbaranga Gasarabwe, a participé à un événement sur le bilan de la reconstruction des mausolées à Tombouctou, en marge de la 39e session du Comité du Patrimoine Mondial de l’UNESCO. La contribution de la MINUSMA au succès du programme de réhabilitation a été mentionnée et extrêmement appréciée. La MINUSMA a en effet activement assisté l’UNESCO dans ses programmes de réhabilitation du patrimoine dans le nord en soutenant plus de 70 missions sur le terrain, soit 450 vols, à hauteur de 156 000 USD, et un projet à impact rapide de 20,5 Millions de FCFA pour la réhabilitation de 3 bibliothèques privées de manuscrits anciens.

La MINUSMA poursuit ses rencontres avec les médias. Ainsi, je tenais à remercier les plus de 50 journalistes qui étaient présents mardi à la maison de la presse. D’autres rencontres riches d’enseignements sont à venir dans les jours qui suivent, vous serez tenus informés.

Cette semaine, la MINUSMA vous annonce le lancement de MIKADO FM à Kidal sur la 94.0 FM. Cette fréquence s’ajoute à celles de Bamako sur 106.6, Tombouctou 92.6, Gao 94 et Mopti 91.8. Bienvenue aux nouveaux auditeurs de Kidal qui nous rejoignent sur les ondes de la paix au Mali.

A noter : M.Christophe Sevillon, Chef du Bureau de la MINUSMA à Kidal a expliqué en détails les Projets à Impact Rapide dans la région de Kidal.

By Jean-Luc Stalon

Jean Luc Stalon is Deputy Country Director of UN Development Programme (UNDP) Mali

BAMAKO, Jul 7 2015 (IPS) - The recent peace agreements in Mali offer grounds for optimism. It’s now time to capitalise on the accord to accelerate recovery, reconciliation and development. An important part of that process will entail placing the country’s youth at the center of the country’s agenda for peace and prosperity.

With its youthful population and track record of civil crises, Mali is the perfect case study on the relationship between youth and stability. Mali’s fertility rate is second only to Niger’s.

The youth of today mix identities, from the traditional to the modern and need to be accompanied and mentored as they define their sense of self.

Yet in a country that doesn’t provide jobs, opportunities for decision-making and a sense of purpose, this youth bulge is more likely to be a powerful demographic time bomb rather than a driver of economic growth.

The complex crisis that hit Mali in 2012 compounded the issue, as armed groups found fertile ground for recruitment in Mali’s large pool of poor, disaffected, uneducated youths, enticed both by easy money and radical ideologies. The conflict also fueled important migration flows to North Africa and Europe.

Now more than ever, the country’s youth need solutions that are specific to their daily realities and will discourage them from going astray. Achieving that objective implies helping them out of the vicious cycle of unemployment, violence and poverty. Young women and men also need to be heard and should have a role in decision-making and peace processes.

To that end, the government and its partners have put into place a vast array of youth employment policies, as well as programmes to strengthen social cohesion, reintegrate displaced people and mobilise national volunteers.

These initiatives have done a lot for those targeted, but they fall short of a comprehensive, national solution for reintegrating youths and increasing their prospects for a better life.

In fact, unemployment rates among young women and men seem to have stagnated. In 2011, unemployment rates among 15 to 39 year-olds revolved around 15 percent, yet independent assessments suggest they could be as high as 50 percent when underemployment is taken into account.

As a result, in a country struggling against terrorism, organised crime and social cleavages, more and more young peole turn to violence and radicalism.

There needs to be a fundamental shift in the way that we look at youth development. Such an approach would look holistically at how to integrate young people in the economy and create new generations of entrepreneurs, while giving them a political voice and a sense of purpose within their communities and the wider nation.

First, we need to boost education, skills training and employment opportunities while at the same time serving Mali’s economic diversification and transformation agenda. This would require investing in promising sectors such as information technology, and creating learning centers and peer-to-peer networks in close collaboration with the private sector.

In this regard, Mali could learn from other successful initiatives, such as the public-private partnership developed in Kenya to create linkages between the formal and informal sectors of the economy.

Second, young Malians need to feel their likings and aspirations are taken into account in their country’s major decisions. Youth should be encouraged to vote and have a chance at running for office in a political system that favours inclusivity, trust and peaceful change.

The upcoming local elections and peace agreement implementation present an opportunity for better youth involvement and representation in the decision making process.

Third, young Malians need a sense of purpose but far too often their desires, opinions and spiritual leanings aren’t seriously considered. These can include joining a community, increasing their exposure to global events and causes, or creating a more affluent life.

The youth of today mix identities, from the traditional to the modern and need to be accompanied and mentored as they define their sense of self. Doing so would go a long way to eliminating intolerance, conflict and even radicalization.

Young women deserve our full attention. Much more needs to be done to ensure they can exercise their basic human rights, including those that relate to the most intimate or fundamental aspects of life, such as sexual and reproductive health, and freedom from violence.

There cannot be peace, poverty eradication and the creation of a more prosperous and open society in Mali without young people. A more holistic approach would be more effective and sustainable.

It could include new mechanisms such as a trust fund for youths, new channels of inter-generational dialogue and a more global outlook in the exchange of knowledge and development experiences. If we succeed in doing so, Mali could embark on an incredibly successful development path.

UNDP is working with young people from all walks of life so they can find a decent job, contribute to their communities and build a better future for Mali as a whole.

Edited by Kitty Stapp

Situation overview

Since May 2013, Southeastern Niger (Diffa region) has witnessed an influx of more than 100,000 (Government estimation ) displaced persons from Northern Nigeria following the declaration of the state of emergency in Borno, Yobe and Adamawa States in Nigeria on 14th of May 2013. The majority of displaced population is seeking shelter in the families and villages of Niger. Due to security incidents in Diffa, the Government of Niger ordered the evacuation of some 28,000 estimated people living in the Islands of Lake Chad in order to proceed to military operations.

KEY MESSAGES

• Ongoing assistance programs (free food distributions, cash transfers, food or cash-for-work, etc.) for poor households in central and southern areas of the country are reducing the number of zones facing Crisis (IPC Phase 3) acute food insecurity to just Brakna, eastern Assaba, and northern Gorgol.

• However, due to the inadequacy and poor spatial distribution of current assistance programs, even with an average rainy season, the population in Crisis (IPC Phase 3) food insecurity is expected to grow between July and September 2015, with certain very poor households in western agropastoral areas and central areas of the Senegal River Valley in Emergency (IPC Phase 4) food insecurity.

• In rainfed farming areas, Stressed (IPC Phase 2) food insecurity is expected between July and September. Similarly, in other pastoral areas, despite the growth of new pasture which will end the pastoral lean season, the food security situation of poor households is not expected to show any major improvements until the next round of animal births, keeping affected households in Stressed (IPC Phase 2) food insecurity through at least September.

GENEVA, JULY 8 (UNHCR) – Last month, Ethiopia was home to over 700,000 refugees, reinforcing its position as the largest refugee-hosting country in Africa and the fifth largest worldwide. At the same time a dire situation prevails in the Sahel region of Burkina Faso, which currently hosts the vast majority – 94 per cent – of the 33,692 Malian refugees who have fled violence in that country.

While security conditions in the region do not encourage UNHCR to promote the return home of these refugees and UNHCR's current level of funding continues to decline, it is becoming increasingly important to engage and foster private sector partnerships in the search for innovative new solutions to assist people who have been forced to flee their homes due to persecution and conflict.

UNHCR has quickly set about creating a number of key partnerships to support the creation of new processes and use technology to improve the lives of displaced people.

Of outmost importance is the partnership with IKEA, UNHCR's largest private sector partner. IKEA Foundation has helped UNHCR in finding innovative solutions, providing technical expertise and financial support. An example of such important support is IKEA's most recent donation of 38 million Euro to be used to support self-reliance efforts of both refugees and the local people hosting them who also need support.

This two year grant aims to make refugees and heavily stretched host communities more resilient in Burkina Faso and Ethiopia by supporting self-reliance initiatives, improving basic services and fostering peaceful co-existence.

"We are grateful to the IKEA Foundation for their unwavering support to people who have been forced to flee their homes," said UN High Commissioner for Refugees António Guterres. "Thanks to the Foundation's continued backing, hundreds of thousands of refugees in Ethiopia, Burkina Faso and other locations will be able to build better lives for themselves and their children."

The partnership with the IKEA foundation started in 2010 with a modest project to strengthen UNHCR's capacity to implement its operations more effectively. Since then, the IKEA Foundation has become UNHCR's biggest private sector partner in activities to help refugees to become more self-reliant less depended on humanitarian aid.

Specifically, the most recent support from the IKEA Foundation will help more than 200,000 Somali refugees in five refugee camps in the Dollo Ado region achieve self-reliance and address refugees' energy needs in a sustainable manner, as well as environmental rehabilitation programmes in and around the Dollo Ado refugee camps.

IKEA Foundation's latest contribution will also support refugees in Burkina Faso's Sahel region. In this dry region, these refugees together with local communities are mostly pastoralists, who own cows, goats, sheep, donkeys, and camels, and their traditional diet consists of milk and millet. Though, due to the distance to their livestock, the refugees appear to be unable to access milk on a regular basis. This high demand and this low supply combined have had a negative impact on the health of the populations, notably children in refugee camps, some of which remain malnourished despite the food assistance of UNHCR's partners.

"I arrived in Burkina Faso with my family from Timbuktu on 5 February 2012. I own livestock, but my animals are far away from the camp. I want to take part in the project as a milk producer, working closely with the local population," said Mohammed, a livestock farmer in Burkina Faso.

IKEA support will enable thousands of people like Mohammed to earn an income, participate in their local communities and keep their children in school.

Per Heggenes, CEO of the IKEA Foundation added: "We believe that every child deserves a quality education, a sustainable family income and a healthy start in life. That's why we are supporting UNHCR's work to bring education and clean energy to refugees living in UNHCR camps and to help refugee families become more self-reliant. We want their children to have better opportunities for the future."

I. Highlights

• New cholera outbreak in Bongo District of the Upper East Region

• No case reported in Greater Accra region for two consecutive weeks

Irregular rainfall to persist in Central America and Hispaniola; dryness worsens in West Africa

Africa Weather Hazards

A delayed onset of the rainy season, followed by poorly-distributed rainfall, has led to abnormal dryness across Burkina Faso, the northern parts of Ghana, Togo, and Benin, western and southern Niger, and northern Nigeria. The lack of rainfall over the past several weeks has delayed planting and negatively affected cropping activities over parts of this region.

Request for an extension of timeframe of one month (new end date: 31 July 2015) to enable the completion of activities planned in the EPoA related to the prevention and control of meningitis, specifically awareness raising/sensitization in coordination with the Ministry of Health mass vaccination campaign, which has been delayed. In addition, the extension of timeframe will also enable the completion of a lessons learned workshop.

A. Situation analysis

Description of the disaster

Niger is a West African country located in the heart of the African meningitis belt, which stretches from Senegal to Djibouti. The hot and dry climate is favourable to the outbreak of meningitis epidemics generally between November and May. In April 2015, following an escalation in meningitis cases (from December 2014), an epidemic was officially declared by the Ministry of Public Health. In parallel, a measles epidemic was also confirmed in regions in the north of the country, with Agadez, Maradi and Zinder worst affected. On 2 May 2015, the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) released CHF 100,428 from the Disaster Relief Emergency Fund (DREF) to support the Red Cross Society of Niger (NRCS) respond to the needs of the affected population. The DREF operation was intended to support 210,000 people (30,000 households) in Dosso and Niamey (meningitis response), and Agadez and Zinder (measles response), over a period of six weeks. On 29 May 2015, an Operations Update was issued to extend the timeframe by two weeks; and an additional allocation of CHF 102,770 to expand the activities planned into eight additional districts (10 in total: (Doutchi, Fillingué Gaya, Kollo, Ouallam Niamey I, II III, IV, and V) with awareness raising/sensitization campaigns. Following the stabilization of the measles epidemic, activities planned in Agadez and Zinder were cancelled. As of 11 June 2015 the number of suspected meningitis cases reached 8,341, including 557 deaths. Initially limited to districts in the Niamey (Niamey I, Niamey II, Niamey III) and Dosso regions, (Doutchi, Gaya) the epidemic spread to other regions and districts of the country including Dosso town, Fillingué, Illela, Kollo, Ouallam, and Terra.

HIGHLIGHTS

Population of concern

A total of 34,027 people of concern

Funding

USD 20,567,209 requested

HIGHLIGHTS

• As the security situation is still volatile in northern Mali, during the period of June 2015 74 new refugees’ arrivals were registered by UNHCR and the government of Burkina Faso. The families mainly arrive from the regions of Gao and Timbuktu. UNHCR has welcomed them with shelters, food and NFI assistance and has provided them with legal documentation.

• The official ceremony of the World Refugee Day was organised together with the government of Burkina Faso in Mentao camp, under the chairmanship of the Ministyr of Foreign Affairs and Regional and under the sponsorship of the embassy of Japan in Burkina Faso.

Depuis la déclaration de l’état d’urgence dans les Etats au nord du Nigéria (Adamawa, Borno et Yobe) en mai 2013, le Niger fait face à des défis humanitaires sans précédent dans la région de Diffa qui accueille des milliers de réfugiés nigérians, de nigériens retournés et de ressortissants de pays tiers. En outre, les attaques des groupes armés sur le territoire nigérien en février et juin 2015 ont entrainé des déplacements internes de populations. La plupart des personnes ayant fui l’insécurité au Nigéria et des personnes déplacées internes se trouvent dans une situation de vulnérabilité qui aggrave celle des communautés hôtes. Les principaux défis humanitaires de la région incluent l’insécurité alimentaire, la malnutrition, l’accès limité aux services sociaux de base et la protection