(Bamako, 29 January 2013): Humanitarian agencies and the Government of Mali requested over US$370 million today to deliver urgent humanitarian assistance to nearly 4.3 million people in Mali.
Mali is currently facing an unprecedented complex emergency. Despite a strong harvest in 2012, the country is still struggling with the effects of the 2011 Sahel drought and the subsequent 2012 food and nutrition crisis. Millions of people have also been affected by a chronic crisis as a result of poverty and the steady erosion of their resilience in the face of multiple, recurrent shocks. The conflict that began in 2012 has only exacerbated this situation.
“Developments in the conflict since 9 January 2013 have created new priority needs that make donor contributions all the more urgent. We cannot wait – as we did last year – until March or April to begin making the first contributions,” said the UN Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator, Aurélien Agbenonci. “It is essential that humanitarian actors be granted access to all areas as soon as possible in order to evaluate new priority needs, particularly in terms of protection.”
“At the same time, it is important not to lose sight of other humanitarian needs throughout the country, including the need to strengthen people’s livelihoods and reinforce their longer-term resilience,” added Mr. Agbenonci.
The consolidated appeal (CAP) launched today was developed in autumn 2012 in order to respond to multiple needs. Some 660,000 children under 5 years old are threatened by acute malnutrition; 2 million people are at risk of food insecurity. As a result of the conflict, over 1.7 million people are affected in northern Mali, and over 198,000 were displaced in their own country by the end of November 2012.
The CAP is the tool used by humanitarian partners to join forces in order to provide the best possible assistance and protection to people in need. The 2012 CAP developed for Mali requested $214.5 million. It was 70 per cent funded, receiving $142.5 million in contributions, with major discrepancies by sector (84 per cent for food security, but 11 per cent for health and 6 per cent for education).