Musings From Abroad

UN requests $4.7 billion for 21 million internally displaced persons in Nigeria, Chad, others

Published

6 months ago

June 7, 2024

To help 20.9 million vulnerable people in various parts of Nigeria, Chad, and five other African countries, humanitarian partners would require $4.7 billion, according to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.

Its 2024 Humanitarian Needs and Requirement Overview report, posted on its website on Thursday, revealed this. Africa’s Sahel region divides tropical savannas to the south from the Sahara Desert to the north. It includes Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Senegal, Nigeria, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, and Chad.

To guarantee that the region’s humanitarian response plans can be completely executed by the end of the year, the OCHA asked the international community to provide liberally.

According to the UN agency, a complex and interconnected web of crises made worse by instability, a deteriorating security situation, and the consequences of climate change harm the lives of 32.8 million people throughout the Sahel.

The message went on to say that they now needed protective services and humanitarian aid due to the event. It stated that increasing levels of violence and conflict in the Sahel are endangering people’s lives and means of subsistence, driving families from their homes and limiting their access to essential social services.

The UN reported that 7.9 million people in Nigeria’s Borno, Adamawa, and Yobe states are in need, but with the necessary $926.5 million in funds, the organization will focus on 4.4 million people.

It also revealed that the region is home to two million refugees and asylum seekers in addition to 5.6 million internally displaced people, many of whom have experienced multiple displacements, and that 2.2 million children in the area were denied their right to an education as a result of school closures. Additionally, 1,263 health centres are closed.

“Humanitarian partners require US$ 4.7 billion in 2024 to meet the urgent needs of 20.9 million people in Burkina Faso, Cameroon’s Far North Region, Chad, Mali, Niger, and Nigeria’s Adamawa, Borno and Yobe states.

“The OCHA is warning that lives are at risk unless humanitarians are given the resources needed to respond to these crises and support the region’s most vulnerable people,” the report read.

According to the research, as of 30 April 2024, Burkina Faso and Nigeria had more than 2.1 million internally displaced people apiece, making them the countries with the largest numbers.

“Of the 7.6 million total displaced people as of 30 April 2024, 5.6 million were internally displaced persons. Across West and Central Africa, more than half of all refugees and asylum seekers are children. Burkina Faso and Nigeria host the highest number of internally displaced persons with over 2.1 million each as of 30 April 2024, while Chad hosts the highest number of refugees and asylum seekers with 1.2 million as of the same date. The resurgence of conflict in Sudan has already driven more than half a million Sudanese to seek refuge in neighbouring Chad, and this number is likely to increase further unless the situation there stabilizes,” it said.

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Musings From Abroad

EU withdraws Niger diplomat after junta accuses it of mismanaging aid

Published

21 minutes ago

November 24, 2024

Ifeoluwa Dada

The European External Action Service (EEAS) has announced that the European Union would return its ambassador from Niger after the governing military in the nation questioned how an EU team handled humanitarian supplies intended for flood victims.

In a statement released on Friday, the junta in Niger accused the EU ambassador in the West African nation of distributing a 1.3 million euro flood relief grant to many foreign nongovernmental organisations in an opaque way and without working with the government.

Consequently, it mandated an audit of the fund’s administration.

“The European Union expresses its profound disagreement with the allegations and justifications put forward by the transitional authorities,” the EEAS said.

“Consequently, the EU has decided to recall its ambassador from Niamey for consultations in Brussels.”

Niger has been under military rule since the junta seized power in a 2023 coup.

Musings From Abroad

Mpox remains health emergency, WHO insists

Published

1 hour ago

November 24, 2024

Ifeoluwa Dada

The World Health Organisation (WHO) has insisted that the Mpox epidemic remains a public health emergency.

WHO first declared an emergency when a new strain of mpox spread from the severely affected Democratic Republic of the Congo to neighbouring countries in August.

The WHO Director-General has decided that the increase in mpox still qualifies as a public health emergency of worldwide significance after the WHO called a meeting of its Emergency Committee and followed its recommendations.

According to WHO, the decision was made in light of the growing number and ongoing geographic dispersion of cases, field operating difficulties, and the requirement to establish and maintain a coordinated response across nations and partners.

Mpox is a virus that is spread by close contact and usually manifests as pus-filled lesions and flu-like symptoms. Although it is typically minor, it can be fatal.

More than 1,000 suspected deaths and more than 46,000 suspected cases have been reported this year throughout Africa, primarily in Congo.

The WHO’s highest level of warning, known as a “public health emergency of international concern,” was previously used to describe a worldwide epidemic of a different type of mpox in 2022–2023.

This year’s notice was issued in response to the transmission of a novel viral variation known as clade Ib. Among other nations, cases of this variation have been verified in the UK, Germany, Sweden, and India.

Following criticism for moving too slowly on vaccinations, WHO approved Bavarian Nordic’s mpox vaccine in September and listed Japan’s KM Biologics vaccine for emergency use earlier this month.