- MAJOR CHANGES SINCE PREVIOUS VERSION OF THE HIP
Since the 11 January start to the intervention in Northern Mali, on-going military operations continue and are expanding further north. French and Malian armed forces have reached Gao, Timbuktu and Kidal without meeting major resistance.
Prior to withdrawing, jihadists are reported to have looted cereal banks and health centers in numerous locations. The Algerian border has remained closed reducing commercial trade and market activity in northern regions of Mali already seriously affected by food insecurity. Due to military interventions, disruptions along the commercial cereal supply route from Mopti to the north have also been reported by WFP. Markets in general are under-stocked or closed. Prices have increased drastically (millet from 275 to 380 FCFA/kg; rice from 350 to 460 FCFA/kg; fuel from 600 to 1000 FCFA/litre).
A joint WFP/SAP (Systeme d'Alerte Precoce/ Early Warning System) survey, conducted in August/September 2012, already indicated a difficult food insecurity situation. IDPs and host families in three northern regions, Kidal, Gao, Timbuktu and parts of Mopti are the most affected by food insecurity, with nearly half of the population in Kidal region (45,4%), 36,2% in Gao and 31,2% in Timbuktu, being severely or moderately food insecure.
Despite major challenges in gaining access to areas controlled by rebel groups, the ICRC and WFP (with its implementing NGO partners) have successfully coordinated and implemented a major food assistance programme between July - December 2012 for more than 900,000 people, including the 220,000 IDPs.
ICRC and WFP are now planning food assistance for an additional 10 months, from January to October 2013, in response to the evolving situation. The ICRC is preparing a major budget increase from the initial 2013 plan.
Population movements, as a result of the new fighting following the military intervention, are being reported in all regions but still at a relatively low scale. OCHA have reported 21,645 new refugees (as of 11 February). IOM is reporting 15,715 additional internally displaced (IDPs) from North to South and 2,309 from South to North. There are limited numbers of returns so far. Information remains, however, incomplete and not fully up to date due to insecurity and access constraints. This brings the total number of IDPs to over 260,000 and the total number of refugees to date to over 170,000.
Many of these IDPs expressed willingness of return only when security conditions will be met. This extra caseload of returnees population will have to be included into ongoing projects that DG ECHO has been funding since the beginning of the crisis in northern regions. There are additional needs in the health, nutrition and food assistance sectors. Based on above reported needs, DG ECHO has decided to allocate an additional EUR 22 million to this HIP to meet outstanding needs linked to the consequences of military intervention in Mali