DANS CE NUMERO

P1 A Am Timan, MSF a mis en place un réseau d’agents communautaires de santé pour combattre l’hépatite E

P2 Nos activités au Tchad Flashback: les premiers pas chez MSF de Alexi Makoulou Ngot MSF présente pour les urgences médicales au Tchad. Editorial de Rolland Kaya, Chef de Mission au Tchad

P3 Attaque militaire au Nigeria.
Témoignage d’Alfred Davies, coordinateur terrain pour MSF au Nigeria

P4 Lac Tchad: Le besoin d’assistance persiste

P5 La réponse aux situations d’urgence est l’essence même de MSF: l’équipe mobile d’urgence de MSF au Niger et au Mali

P6 MSF au Tchad en chiffres

Highlights

• Funding gaps are currently jeopardizing the implementation of all activities. Considering the current level of funding, three regions out of seven will be prioritized for the Protracted Relief and Recovery Operation (PRRO) and two provinces out of four will be targeted for Country Programme (CP).

Operational Updates

• School year started in October but the school meals programme fully resumed only in November because of delays in food delivery. Scaling up of the yogurt project is in progression, with 4,700 schoolchildren targeted in 26 schools.

• Assistance to ART clients was only carried out in December during the last quarter due to lack of funding.

• Food assistance to Malian refugees and nutrition activities are pursued. Nevertheless, nutrition activities are implemented on a reduced scale because of lack of funding. Activities to prevent acute malnutrition are pursued for 2,500 children in the East region.

• Food assistance for assets activities have been launched in the East region. They will be progressively expanded and additional households will be enrolled in the East but also in Centre North and Sahel regions.

Le Vice-Premier Ministre et Ministre des Affaires étrangères Didier Reynders se réjouit que la Belgique contribuera à la prévention du terrorisme dans les pays sahéliens Burkina Faso et Mauritanie. Notre pays y alloue 250.000 euros. Grâce à cette contribution, des sessions de formation pourront être données dans ces deux pays, sur les techniques d'enquête et d’investigation, la coopération judiciaire et la lutte contre le financement du terrorisme. Le cadre pénal sera ainsi renforcé et les autorités seront mieux à même de répondre à la menace des groupes terroristes et des combattants étrangers en Afrique de l'Ouest. En plus du soutien financier, les pays pourront compter sur l'expertise de magistrats spécialisés du SPF Justice, qui travailleront dans les capitales Ouagadougou et Nouakchott.

La formation est assurée par la Terrorism Prevention Branch (branche prévention du terrorisme) de l'Office des Nations unies contre la drogue et le crime (UNODC). Il s’agit du département des Nations unies qui a le mandat et l'expertise pour aider les pays dans les aspects législatifs et pénaux de la lutte contre le terrorisme. L'UNODC s’engage pour une approche globale contre les crimes tels que le terrorisme, la traite des êtres humains, le trafic de drogues et d'autres formes de criminalité organisée. Cette initiative s'inscrit dans la politique des Nations unies pour le Sahel et est en ligne avec le plan d'action du Secrétaire général de l'ONU pour la prévention de l'extrémisme violent, soutenu par la Belgique.

Didier Reynders attache une grande importance à la prévention de la radicalisation et de l'extrémisme violent par la construction et le renforcement de l’Etat de droit et par une approche globale, dans le respect des droits de l'homme.

Ces efforts doivent contribuer à une plus grande stabilité dans le Sahel, une région sensible à la migration. Ceci est déterminant pour la stabilité du continent africain. La radicalisation, l’extrémisme violent et le terrorisme sont un obstacle à la perspective de stabilité et de développement.

Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Didier Reynders is pleased that Belgium will contribute to the prevention of terrorism in the Sahel countries Burkina Faso and Mauritania. Our country donates 250,000 euros within this context. The funding creates the possibility to give several training sessions in the fields of research- and investigative techniques, judicial cooperation and the combat against the financial flows of terrorism. The criminal law framework will be empowered and the authorities can anticipate more precisely on the threats of terrorist groups and foreign terrorist fighters in West-Africa. In addition to this financial aid, the countries will be able to rely on the expertise of the specialized magistrates of the FPS Justice, which will be working in Nouakchott and Ouagadougou.

The training will be conducted by the Terrorism Prevention Branch of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC). The UNODC is the UN entity which has the mandate and the expertise to assist countries with the legislative and criminal law aspects of counter-terrorism. UNODC aims at creating a comprehensive approach against criminal acts like terrorism, human trafficking, drug trafficking and other forms of organized crime. The initiative is related to the UN-policy about the Sahel region, and is consistent with the action plan of the UN Secretary-general for the prevention of violent extremism, supported by Belgium.

Didier Reynders attaches great importance to the prevention of radicalism and violent extremism by building and empowering the rule of law and by having a comprehensive approach with respect for human rights.

These efforts should contribute to more stability in the migration sensitive region, Sahel. This is decisive for the stability of the African continent. Radicalization, violent extremism and terrorism undermine the prospect of security and development.

No-one had expected such an outcome. For three days they sat on mats under canvas tents in Gargando, a small town near the Malian desert city of Timbuktu, talking and talking. Many of those present had long since stopped regarding Mali as their country. After all, the capital Bamako had hardly ever bothered about the northern regions with lots of sand and few inhabitants. But with the government and military representatives standing there, actually listening, they decided they wanted to give their shared homeland another chance.

On a hot day in March 2016, they stood solemnly together in billowing robes and military uniforms. The flag of the armed rebel group that had ruled in the area was lowered and the Malian flag raised. The national anthem was even played.

“That was one of those moments that give you goosebumps,” says Rebekka Rust, project manager of the Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) in Mali. Rebekka Rust organises forums like the one in Gargando on behalf of the Federal Foreign Office Directorate-General for Crisis Prevention, Stabilisation, Post-Conflict Peacebuilding and Humanitarian Assistance. The dialogue produced a dynamic which no-one could have planned for or foreseen, she says. “With the help of traditional leaders, we managed to get people talking to each other who had had absolutely no contact since the crisis erupted.”

Working on the roots of the conflict

The peace dialogue in Gargando is just one of several dozen organised by GIZ. Sometimes they need months of preparation. In order to show that rapprochement and reconciliation are worthwhile, the talks are accompanied by small-scale stabilisation projects: perhaps the rebuilding of a children’s basketball court destroyed by the jihadists, or the construction of a new road or repair of a well.

Every individual peace dialogue is a small step in a large conflict, but if the people of the north and south cannot move closer to each other, then you can send as many MINUSMA soldiers to Mali as you like – the violence threatens to erupt in waves again and again. To achieve lasting stabilisation, you have to tackle the causes. That is why the Federal Foreign Office has provided a total of 5.5 million euros since 2013 to support reconciliation work in Mali. An additional 9.12 million are earmarked for 2017 and 2018.

The root conflict in Mali is already several generations old. It is a classic conflict between herdsmen and farmers for land and water, scarce resources. In the north of the country live the traditionally nomadic desert tribes of the Tuareg and Fula, who have been Islamicised for a very long time and whose history and culture are strongly influenced by North Africa and the Arab culture. The south, by contrast, is dominated by the Bambara ethnic group, lives on agriculture and in cultural terms belongs to sub-Saharan Africa. The majority of southern Malians only converted to Islam in response to colonisation by the French.

The peoples of the south dominate the Government and have neglected the north for decades. Ever since the foundation of Mali, there have been repeated violent confrontations, involving serious human rights violations, even massacres. “There’s never been anything done to work through all that,” says GIZ project manager Rust. “This conflict is also about equal opportunities, participation and recognition.”

Microprojects: peace should be worthwhile for the people

Anger and frustration at the Government were part of the reason why the Tuareg wanted to secede in 2012, some of them becoming radicalised and allying themselves with Arab jihadist groups seeking to use northern Mali as a safe haven. Before the French army’s intervention, the west African state was in danger of falling into the hands of international jihadists and disintegrating.

If the population is to withdraw its support from the extremist groups, then it has to be convinced that peace is worthwhile for the people. In order to stabilise the fragile situation, the Federal Foreign Office is expanding the microprojects that accompany the peace dialogues – projects like a grain silo for a multiethnic women’s cooperative in Gao, where Bundeswehr soldiers are also stationed. In the dialogue forums people decide together what their community needs. “Projects like this are of more use for peace than a thousand speeches,” says Zahabi Ould Sidi Mohamed, Mali’s former Minister of Foreign Affairs and Reconciliation, who is now chairman of the disarmament commission.

“If we are to be reconciled, we need to know the truth,” he stresses. So a truth commission has been set up with German support. Together with the Ministry of National Reconciliation, GIZ has set up seven regional offices and trained staff members to document human rights violations. Interviews are to be conducted all across the country this year. “What’s special is that we are not only addressing the latest crisis, we’re going right back to 1960,” says Rust. Germany, she feels, is predestined for this task. Firstly, because it is regarded as neutral. But also because “given our history, we come across as very credible when we say that it is important to confront the past”.

Germany’s example, adds Mohamed, can also give the Malian people courage. He says he often tells his compatriots “If the Germans and French managed to become close partners and friends despite all the millions of dead in the two World Wars, then so can we.”

Last updated 26.01.2017

Nigeria - IOM has provided mattresses, blankets, water purification tablets, mosquito nets and other essential items to 12,500 displaced families (70,073 individuals) and others affected by Boko Haram violence in Adamawa, Borno, and Yobe states, north-eastern Nigeria, over the last six weeks. Many fled their homes, leaving everything behind, to escape Boko Haram or lost their belongings when villages were razed around the northeast.

“I left my home five days ago to come to Konduga, 30km away in Borno,” explained Yazara Abba, 65. “After three years of Boko Haram controlling us, the military came and we were able to escape. I brought all that I could carry for my grandkids: a mosquito net, one shirt and a plastic container,” she said, unwrapping the small bundle, her hands and feet scraped from the long walk.

Yazara’s family of five is among the 500 families (2,653 people) that received household items from IOM in Konduga on Sunday. IOM has already built shelters for 614 families (approximately 4,298 people) in the town and plans to provide shelters for another 500 families there in the coming weeks.

Internally displaced families in camps and host communities in 23 locations in Adamawa, Borno and Yobe also received floor mats, buckets, jerry cans, pots, cooking utensils, cutlery, plates, soap, detergent, and sanitary pads. Many of the beneficiaries are in hard-to-reach areas that only recently became accessible to humanitarian workers, thanks to improving security.

These items, and blankets in particular, surpass food as the greatest “unmet need” of 15 percent of the internally displaced persons (IDPs) surveyed in IOM’s last Displacement Tracking Matrix, published in December 2016. From January to November 2016, IOM distributed 19,726 household (NFI) kits, supporting about 106,445 individuals.

“Giving these critical items to more than 70,000 people in under two months reflects our growing capacity to respond to this humanitarian crisis,” said Fouad Diab, Emergency Coordinator at IOM Nigeria. “We have scaled up our response, doubling the size of our NFI distribution team, and we look forward to doing more to address the increasing needs of the many Nigerians affected by the conflict.” The programme is funded by the Government of Germany.

IOM Nigeria’s Emergency Response also includes building shelters, camp management and camp coordination, livelihood assistance, mental health and psychosocial support, biometrically registering IDPs and affected communities, and tracking displacement around the northeast.

For further information, please contact Julia Burpee at IOM Nigeria, Tel. +234 (0) 907 373 1170, Email: jburpee@iom.int

SUMMARY POINTS

• Maize grain was the most informally traded commodity in Eastern Africa in the fourth quarter of 2016 but its share of total trade decreased slightly from 35 percent in the third quarter to 31 percent in the fourth quarter because of average production and supplies in Kenya, Tanzania,
  Uganda, Rwanda and Burundi.

• Rice and wheat flour displaced dry beans in the second position and accounted for 19 and 14 percent of the total commodity trade in the region. This was attributed to increased rice supplies from the previous above average harvest in Tanzania, high demand for maize during the Christmas period, and relatively high maize prices resulting in some substitution.

• Trade in dry beans declined in the fourth quarter as most supplies tightened early following below average harvests in the main producing Uganda.

• Re-exports of sugar, wheat and wheat flour were also significantly traded in the region in the fourth quarter.

• Sesame seeds, which are mostly exported from Ethiopia to Sudan, increased seasonably in the fourth quarter of 2016 as supplies started to increase from the October-to-January harvest in Ethiopia.

• Livestock trade in the region was mixed with exports from Ethiopia to Somalia declining following the end of the June-to-September religious festivities, and exports to Kenya increasing atypically as herders sell animals in Somalia following scarcity of water, pasture and browse.

As climate change pushes men to take over land once left to women, women could get a set aside of government land

By Soumaila Diarra

KATIBOUGOU, Mali, Jan 30 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - Wearing a long white tunic covered with bright-coloured patterns, Aminata Berthe bends to water a plot of lettuce with a can in this village near Bamako, the Malian capital.

"I'm the first one in my home to wake up and the last to go to bed," she said, pausing to catch her breath. She has been farming the land for three years as part of a women's vegetable cooperative, but doesn't have the right to own it.

"The land we're farming belongs to the husband of one of the cooperative members," she explained.

In Malian society, men hold primary rights of access to and control over land and decide which parts, if any, women are allowed to farm.

But worsening climate conditions such as unpredictable rainfall and prolonged drought have increased competition for land, leading men to encroach on land traditionally farmed by women.

Change is afoot, however. The government this year could pass a new law that would set aside a share of government-managed land for women to farm, said Siriman Sakho, a rural development specialist who works with a group of Malian farmers' representatives.

Discussion about the proposed law have included farmers groups, particularly the National Federation of Rural Women in Mali, he said.

"The government is in a drive to fit up farming land throughout the country," Sakho said. "Under the new law, the authorities would give women exclusive access to 10 percent of government-managed land, at a cost of 65,000 CFA francs ($105) per year."

Each woman who accessed land would pay the annual fee, he said.

Meanwhile, "the rest of government land will continue to be farmed by women and men alike," he said.

Under the Malian Family Code, women are required to obey their husbands, who are considered head of the household. "This means women can lose the land they are farming on if their husband, brother or father decides to sell the family's farm," said Sakho.

ECONOMIC AUTONOMY

The proposed law is a welcome development, said Bakary Togola, the head of a farmer group that supports the draft. "As climate is changing, agriculture needs to change too," he said.

"How can we improve our yields when most farmers - women - don't have the right to own land?"

Oumou Bah, the minister for the Promotion of Women, Children and Families, agrees. She said at an event in Bamako in December that giving women access to land would improve not just their living conditions, but the economy.

"Women account for 70 percent of food production in the country," she said. "That's a huge part of the labour force, and yet they lack economic autonomy, particularly in rural areas."

Bah believes that improving women's access to land is key to strengthening food security in the country.

"Improving women's access to land will allow them to produce a greater variety of crops like okra and tomatoes, in addition to staple crops which they typically produce on their husbands' land - like cereal," Bah said.

The wider variety of crops could diversify diets and help tackle malnutrition, a significant problem in the country's rural areas, Bah added.

Malnutrition is the leading cause of infant mortality, according to the health ministry.

LEARNING FROM EXPERIENCE

The new law won't do much to change how families manage their own land, however, said Ousmane Toure, a sociologist living in Bamako.

In 2009, a proposed reform to the Family Code to change provisions regarding inheritance and age at marriage, among other things, was opposed by Islamic groups and ultimately passed without any improvement to women's rights, Toure said.

"If the law again tries to touch family land, it is doomed to fail," he warned.

He believes the best way to preempt opposition and allow women to control land is to apply the reform to government-managed land only.

Sakho says the new law - adopted by the Cabinet in 2015 and expected to pass in the National Assembly in 2017 - is likely to succeed, as religious groups have no control over public land.

And "the daily presence of government representatives monitoring the land will dissuade men from encroaching on it", he suggested.

In the meantime, Berthe and the women hope to carry on farming for as long as they can. "We may have to abandon the land if the landlord decides to sell it," she said.

(Reporting by Soumaila Diarra, editing by Zoe Tabary and Laurie Goering. Please credit the Thomson Reuters Foundation, the charitable arm of Thomson Reuters, that covers humanitarian news, climate change, resilience, women's rights, trafficking and property rights. Visit http://news.trust.org/climate)

Faits Saillants

• La prévalence de la malnutrition aigüe reste toujours préoccupante au Tchad selon les les résultats de l’enquête SMART de septembre 2016.

• 1, 511,583 personnes auront besoins d’une assistance nutritionnelle en 2017.

• La ligue des parlementaires se joint à l’UNICEF pour lutter contre la malnutrition au Tchad et promouvoir une alimentation saine.

• Vers la mise en place d’un nouvel outil de gestion des intrants nutritionnels afin d’améliorer la prise en charge des cas sans ruptures majeures.

L’approche cluster nutrition au Tchad

L’approche Cluster a été introduite au Tchad en 2006. Il s’agit de renforcer l’action humanitaire en instaurant un système de direction, de prévisibilité et de responsabilités claires entre les acteurs impliqués dans la réponse humanitaire. Son activation se justifie par un contexte d’urgence avec faible capacité nationale de coordination. Le coordinateur du cluster travail de façon neutre avec tous les partenaires autour d’une vision, d’un objectif et des fonctions principales du cluster. L’UNICEF est l’agence chef de file du cluster nutrition tant au niveau global que national.

CENTRAL AFRICAN REPUBLIC

SECURITY WORSENS IN THE OUAKA PREFECTURE

On 29 January, armed groups resumed their confrontations on the Bakala-Ndassima axis, where violent clashes had occurred in December. The security situation in the central Ouaka Prefecture continues to deteriorate after an upsurge of violence the previous week in Bria and Bambari. Between 11 and 25 January, the number of IDPs in the region increased from 65,610 to 68,192.

CAMEROON

OVER 191,908 IDPs IN THE FAR NORTH

There now are 191,908 internally displaced persons, 23,430 non-registered refugees, and 35,665 returnees in Cameroon’s Far North, according to the latest IOM-led Displacement Tracking Matrix (DTM), conducted in December 2016. More than 90 per cent of the assessed population was displaced as a result of conflict, while the remaining were forced to leave due to floods. Over half of the displaced were forced to move during the course of 2016, 29 per cent in 2015 and 20 per cent in 2014. Almost two in three reside with host communities, 23 per cent in rented housing and 10 per cent in spontaneous sites.

DR CONGO

3 000 FAMILLES TOUCHÉES PAR LES INONDATIONS REÇOIVENT UNE AIDE

One month after severe flooding in the southwestern town of Boma killed at least 50 people and caused extensive material damage, nearly 3,000 households - out of 3,400 affected - have received assistance from humanitarian organizations and provincial authorities, as well as private companies and Congolese citizens. Food, pharmaceuticals, and other necessary items were distributed during the past two weeks. Relief teams continue to advocate for psychosocial support for those who faced trauma.

NIGERIA

BORNO GOVERNMENT STARTS RELOCATION OF OVER 20,000 IDPs

Borno’s State Emergency Management Agency (SEMA) announced plans to move 20,076 internally displaced persons - 3,614 households - from various camps including Bakassi, Kachallari, Teachers’ Village and NYSC Camp in Maiduguri to Mafa, Monguno, Damboa, Ngala, Nganzai and Kukawa local government areas (LGA) before the end of January.

4.7 MILLION CHILDREN VACCINATED AGAINST MEASLES

In a major vaccination campaign concluded on 29 January, 4.7 million children were vaccinated in response to a measles outbreak in the country’s north-east. Conducted by the Nigerian government, WHO, and several non-governmental organizations, the campaign covered the three states most affected by the Boko Haram conflict – Adamawa, Borno and Yobe – where insecurity has limited vaccination efforts.

RÉPUBLIQUE CENTRAFRICAINE

AGGRAVATION DE L’INSÉCURITÉ DANS LA PRÉFECTURE DE LA OUAKA

Le 29 janvier, les groupes armés ont repris leurs affrontements sur l'axe BakalaNdassima, où des heurts violents se sont produits en décembre. La situation sécuritaire dans la Préfecture de la Ouaka, au centre du pays, continue de se détériorer après une recrudescence de la violence la semaine précédente à Bria et Bambari. Entre le 11 et le 25 janvier, le nombre de personnes déplacées dans la région est passé de 65 610 à 68 192.

CAMEROUN

PLUS DE 191 908 PERSONNES DÉPLACÉES DANS L’EXTRÊME-NORD

La région de l’Extrême-Nord compte désormais 191 908 personnes déplacées, 23 430 réfugiés non enregistrés et 35 665 retournés, selon la dernière matrice de suivi des déplacements (DTM) de l'OIM réalisé en décembre 2016. Plus de 92% de la population évaluée a été déplacée à la suite de conflits, tandis que les autres ont été déplacées à la suite d'inondations. Plus de la moitié des personnes déplacées ont dû déménager en 2016, 29% en 2015 et 20% en 2014. Environ deux déplacés sur trois vivent dans des communautés d'accueil, 23% dans des logements locatifs et 10% dans les sites spontanés.

RD CONGO

3 000 FAMILLES TOUCHÉES PAR LES INONDATIONS REÇOIVENT UNE AIDE

Un mois après les graves inondations dans la ville de Boma, au sud-ouest, qui ont tué au moins 50 personnes et causé des dégâts matériels considérables, près de 3 000 ménages, sur 3 400 touchés, ont bénéficié de l'aide d'organisations humanitaires et provinciales, ainsi que de sociétés privées et de citoyens. La nourriture, les produits pharmaceutiques et autres articles nécessaires ont été distribués au cours des deux dernières semaines. Les équipes de secours plaident en faveur d'un soutien psychosocial pour ceux qui sont confrontés à un traumatisme.

NIGERIA

REINSTALLATION DE PLUS DE 20 000 PERSONNES DÉPLACÉES DANS BORNO

L'Agence nationale de gestion des situations d'urgence de l’État de Borno (SEMA) a annoncé son intention de déplacer 20 076 personnes déplacées, soit 3 614 ménages, de divers camps, dont Bakassi, Kachallari, Teachers’ Village et NYSC à Maiduguri, aux zones de gouvernement locaux de Mafa, Monguno, Damboa, Ngala, Nganzai et Kukawa, avant la fin du mois de janvier.

4,7 MILLIONS D'ENFANTS VACCINÉS CONTRE LA ROUGEOLE

Lors d'une importante campagne de vaccination achevée le 29 janvier, 4,7 millions d'enfants ont été vaccinés en réponse à une épidémie de rougeole dans le nord-est du pays. La campagne a couvert les trois états les plus affectés par le conflit lié à Boko Haram, l’Adamawa, Borno et Yobe, où l'insécurité a limité les efforts de vaccination. La campagne a été menée en partenariat avec le gouvernement nigérian, l'OMS et plusieurs organisations non gouvernementales.

Sécurité

La situation sécuritaire dans la région de l’Extrême-Nord demeure précaire. Dans la nuit du 25 au 26 Janvier, la localité de Gakara, non loin de Kolofata, a été attaquée par des assaillants de Boko Haram qui ont emporté des bicyclettes, des denrées alimentaires des effets vestimentaires et de l’argent. Un nigérian a également été enlevé. Un autre groupe de combattants de Boko Haram a été intercepté par le comité de vigilance dans la même nuit à Kouyape, toujours près de Kolofata.

Développements majeurs

Une mission des responsables d’ECHO parmi lesquels la Cheffe d’unité responsable de l’Afrique du Nord, Occidentale et Centrale, a séjourné à Batouri dans la région de l’Est du 26 au 28 Janvier, dans le cadre de l’évaluation des réalisations faites par les ONG bénéficiaires de leurs dons. Après un échange avec le préfet de la Kadey, la mission a visité les sites de Lolo et Mbilé qui abritent des réfugiés centrafricains, où elle s’est entretenue avec les membres du comité central des réfugiés de chacun des sites, sur les questions d’abris, d’assistance alimentaire et de livelihood.

Huit autres membres de la commission d’éligibilité en matière de détermination du statut des réfugiés composée par les fonctionnaires du Ministère des Relations Extérieures (MINREX) ont effectué une visite de familiarisation, les 26 et 27 Janvier 2017, dans les sites de Timangolo, Lolo et Mbilé qui abritent des réfugiés centrafricains. Cette visite de terrain leur a permis de mieux appréhender les nuances, contraintes et challenges des activités de protection. Ceci porte à 16 le nombre de fonctionnaires ayant visité les sites, sur les 24 que compte la commission mise sur pied en Août 2016 par le MINREX dans le cadre de la rétrocession des compétences en matière de détermination du statut des réfugiés du HCR à l’Etat. Les visites des autres membres sont programmées pour les jours à venir.

SITUATION OVERVIEW

Humanitarian needs increased in 2016, as people, particularly in areas that became accessible, faced, and continue to suffer a severe food and nutrition crisis. Aid organizations have increased assistance. In December 2016 alone, more than one million people received food assistance in the three most affected states in Nigeria’s north-east. Alongside the displaced, efforts have also focused on meeting the needs of host communities: 77 per cent of IDPs live within communities. To further boost the scale-up of relief assistance, a base and hub project is being established in the north-east to provide accommodation for 100 NGO and UN staff at the base in Maiduguri, the capital of Borno state. Hubs are being set up in some of the newly-accessible localities.

UN assistant secretary general Toby Lanzer says urgent aid to help stabilise communities in the Lake Chad region is also in Europe’s broader interests.

The humanitarian crisis in northern Nigeria has implications that Europe can ill afford to ignore, according to a top UN official. Nigeria was the third largest source of migrants crossing the Mediterranean in 2016.

Read the full article on The Guardian

MESSAGES CLÉS

1. La mise en place de solutions durables pour les retournés tchadiens de la RCA reste prioritaire. Les retournés vivant sur le site de Djako ont besoin d’être appuyés pour faciliter leur réinsertion socio-économique et assurer leur autosuffisance à travers des opportunités économiques, l’accès à la terre, à la documentation civile et aux services sociaux de base.

2. La pauvreté générale et la faiblesse des initiatives de développement exacerbent les vulnérabilités des retournés et des populations hôtes. Il est primordial de renforcer les capacités des populations à faire face aux chocs à travers des activités de résilience et de développement.