Situation Update
According to UNHCR, there are some 62,000 internally displaced persons in Mali and 16,000 returnees. Burkina Faso shelters 33,000 Malian refugees, while Mauritania and Niger host 53,000 and 49,000 Malian refugees, respectively.
WFP Response
Under its Protracted Relief and Recovery Operation (PRRO) 200719 in Mali, WFP is responding to immediate food needs of internally displaced persons (IDPs) and returnees, among other needs intended to save lives, promote stability and contribute to achieving the Zero Hunger Challenge. Under its Regional Emergency Operation (EMOP) 200438, WFP is addressing life-saving needs of Malian refugees in Burkina Faso, Mauritania and Niger, who fled conflict in northern Mali since early 2012. In March, WFP assisted 298,000 beneficiaries in Mali and 85,000 Malian refugees in Burkina Faso, Mauritania and Niger.
Mali
The security situation remains volatile in Mali with frequent incidents and attacks. Despite this context, WFP was able to reach some 298,000 beneficiaries during the month of March 2015.
The March Cadre Harmonisé (CH) identified some 248,000 food insecure people who require immediate food assistance. Estimates suggest that from April to August 2015, the figure will increase to 410,000. WFP aims to reach 360,000 beneficiaries in April.
A budget revision to the operation in Mali (PRRO 200719) has increased the budget from approximately USD 310 million to USD 326 million. The increase mainly reflects increased transportation and operational costs due to the insecurity.
Burkina Faso
WFP is targeting up to 32,000 Malian refugees in Burkina Faso. In March, WFP reached some 31,000 refugees in Bobo-Dioulasso, Goudebou, Mentao and Saag-Nioniogo. This includes pregnant and lactating women (PLW) and children aged 6-59 months who benefited from targeted supplementary feeding (TSF) in Goudebou and Mentao.
The closing of the Saag-Nioniogo camp in March has led to the relocation of refugees to the Sahel (Goudebou and Mentao). The relocation is still ongoing, therefore extra monitoring is required to guarantee uninterrupted distributions.
Mauritania
In March, major funding gaps due to the late confirmation of contributions disrupted the distributions. As a result, WFP suspended its general food distributions (GFD) to the 52,000 planned beneficiaries for the month.
Available resources were used to cover interventions for some 690 children aged 6-59 months and 120 PLW suffering from moderate acute malnutrition. In addition, some 5,400 children under the age of 5 and 1,600 PLW received nutritional supplements to prevent malnutrition. WFP also provided school meals to 4,400 children.
WFP plans to reach approximately 53,000 beneficiaries in April through GFD which resumed on 15 April.
Niger
WFP provided assistance to some 43,200 refugees in the camps and refugee hosting zones in March. Approximately 36,600 refugees were reached through food distributions, 6,500 through the voucher modality and 2,300 children aged 6-23 months received nutritional supplements.
WFP continues its mobile Vulnerability Analysis and Mapping (mVAM) assessments in the Abala camp. According to the third round, conducted at the end of March, the food security situation remains fragile.
