Refugees in the Sahel

In January, the Tuareg people in northern Mali started a rebellion against the country's government. In late March, army officers overthrew the government and blamed it for failing to contain the rebellion. During this coup, the Tuareg took advantage of the disarray in the capital to take over a large area of northern Mali. Now the interim leader of the country has threatened to wage a "total war" against the rebels if they do not leave the cities that they now occupy. For the past month, there has been fighting and turmoil throughout the country and tens of thousands of people are fleeing as refugees to neighbouring countries including Burkina Faso and Niger. The UN refugee agency estimates that 130,000 people have been uprooted by this conflict.

At the best of times, caring for thousands of refugees is a challenge for towns in Niger and Burkina Faso where people look only to the present and lack the resources to worry about future needs. Now, after a year of drought there is an impending food crisis in the Sahel region which is being intensified by the refugee crisis and may threaten 10 million people this year. There are already food shortages in the Sahal and the refugees are concentrated in the areas which are already the hardest hit by the food crisis.

So far, people living in border towns have shown significant generosity towards the incoming refugees despite their own challenges, but what happens next? What will happen if this coming year brings another drought? Will the refugees ever be able to return to their homes? What responsibilities do we have in responding to this crisis?

Living in Canada we are lucky to not be faced with a decision between feeding our own family and preventing our neighbours from starving. But even though refugees from Mali do not live across the street, we still have a responsibility to treat them as our fellow human beings. It's easy to ignore the problem halfway across the world especially when there is very little media covering West African crises, but ignoring the problem will never solve it.

If you want to read more about the challenges in Mali and its neighbouring countries, you can check it out here:
Conflict in Mali Aggravates Sahel Food Crisis