Without additional funding, food, shelter, education and other services will be severely reduced.
NOUAKCHOTT, MAURITANIA, June 4, 2015 (UNHCR ) – The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and the World Food Programme warn that lack of funding threatens essential assistance to Malian refugees in Mauritania. The two agencies are working together with their partners and the Mauritanian authorities to ensure the protection and assistance of Malian refugees who have been living in Mberra camp since 2012, following the conflict in northern Mali.
Thanks to contributions from donors for this assistance programme, the living conditions of refugees in the camp have significantly improved. The prevalence of global acute malnutrition, for example, which was at 20% in July 2012 dropped to 9.9% by October 2014. As a result of the various interventions in the camp, refugees now have access to 30 liters of drinking water per person per day in comparison with less than 15 liters in 2013.
“UNHCR and its partners are in a crucial phase of consolidating progress achieved to date in Mberra camp” explains Bruno Geddo, UNHCR Representative in Mauritania. “The funding of these efforts is crucial, particularly in the current context where nearly 300 new arrivals from Mali have been registered in Mauritania since late April this year.”
UNHCR implements activities in several key areas of assistance in the camp, including protection, primary education, distribution of food and non-food items, monitoring of nutrition and health, access to the drinking water and sanitation as wells as access to shelter and energy.
In addition, UNHCR also supports the empowerment of refugees, particularly through literacy classes, vocational training, as well as by providing significant support to vegetable gardening and other income generating activities. Finally, several projects, including infrastructure rehabilitation activities, are implemented by UNHCR within the host community with a view to promoting peaceful coexistence between host and refugee populations.
“WFP intends to provide assistance to 52,500 refugees up until the end of December. Nevertheless, limited resources meant that we had to temporarily suspend these distributions to refugees last March and we must now reduce the size of rations to be distributed in June and September “says Janne Suvanto, WFP Representative in Mauritania. “If additional resources cannot be rapidly mobilized, WFP may have to stop distributions from October. It should also be noted that this situation is taking place within a context in which many vulnerable Mauritanian families are already facing an increasingly difficult food security situation.”
WFP has provided monthly food assistance to nearly 52,000 Malian refugees in Mberra camp since the beginning of the year. In partnership with UNHCR, WFP also provides fortified food supplements for children under five and for pregnant and lactating women in order to treat and prevent moderate acute malnutrition. A hot meal is also distributed daily to children attending primary schools and child-friendly spaces within the camp.
“We are launching an emergency appeal to donors in order to ensure that we can continue to help this vulnerable population that is forced to stay in Mauritania as the security and humanitarian situation remains precarious in northern Mali,” added Mr. Geddo and Mr. Suvanto.
In 2015 UNHCR and WFP received US $ 3.2 million and US $ 5.9 million respectively to provide assistance to Malian refugees. Despite these generous contributions, both agencies still need $ 5 million and US $ 3.9 million respectively to continue to protect and assist the Malian refugees in Mauritania over the next six months.
For more information please contact:
- UNHCR Nouakchott: Sébastien Laroze , public information officer, larozes@unhcr.org, + 222 32 31 50 80
– UNHCR Dakar (Regional): Helene Caux, Senior Regional Public Information Officer, caux@unhcr.org, +221 77 333 1291
– WFP Dakar (Regional): Adel Sarkozi, Senior Regional Public Information Officer, adel.sarkozi@wfp.org +221 77 637 5964
