The United Nations today called for immediate action to tackle Mali's current humanitarian crisis which is driven by food insecurity, malnutrition, population displacement and widespread insecurity.
"The humanitarian situation is deteriorating rapidly because of the inadequacy of the response. The situation in Mali is desperate, but not hopeless," stressed the Director of Operations of the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), John Ging.
"There needs to be a paradigm shift in the way the humanitarian response is funded. We can avoid a disaster, but only if the opportunities for a quick scaling up of the response are not missed," he added.
In January, fighting between Government forces and Tuareg rebels resumed in northern Mali. The instability and insecurity resulting from the renewed clashes, as well as the proliferation of armed groups in the region, and political instability in the wake of a coup d'état in March, have uprooted more than 420,000 people, according to OCHA, with many fleeing to the neighbouring countries of Niger, Mauritania and Burkina Faso due to insecurity.
These countries, however, are among the most severely affected by the food and nutrition crisis raging across the Sahel region of West Africa, which has put 18 million lives at risk.
During a three-day mission to Mali, Mr. Ging visited displacement camps in Mopti in the north, where he heard first-hand the traumatic stories of violence against women and children who had fled their homes.
In Bamako, the capital, Mr. Ging told reporters that "there appears to be a misconception that without a solution to the security and political crisis in the north of the country, little can be done to scale up the humanitarian response. In fact, 80 per cent of the country's humanitarian needs are in the south, where there is relative stability."
While work is being carried out by national and international organizations in the northern part of the country, Mr. Ging said the lack of funding is hampering the scaling up of activities in the region. Currently, only 42 per cent of the $214 million required for the humanitarian response has been received.
Health, education, water, sanitation and hygiene are the most critically underfunded sectors, Mr. Ging said, adding that this could quickly lead to the outbreak of epidemics like cholera, which is threatening to spread throughout West Africa.
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MALI IS BY FACT A WEALTHY NATION ; PROBLEM IS THAT THE WEALTH IS ALL GOING TO FRANCE INSTEAD OF THE NATIVE PEOPLE. NOT SOUNDIUNG BIAS BUT FRANCOFONE STATES NEED TRULY TO DISTANT THEMSELVES FROM FRANCE AND STRONGLY ALLY THEMSELVES TO ALL AFRICA. THE SITUAION IS BEYOND RELIEF AT THE MPOMENT WHAT WE SEE IN THE NORTH MUST NOT BE LOOKED AT WITH WHITE EYES THERE ARE SCHOOLS FUNCTIONING AND THERE IS ORDER SO DO NOT GET WOUND UP WITH WESTERN PROPONDA, THE PROBLEM IS THAT WHEN THERE WAS ONLY THE TAUREGS AND THE OTHER ISLAMIST GROUPS IN MALI. THERE WAS A CHANCE EITHER BY VICTORY FROM ECOWAS IF THIER CONSTITUTION IS INDEED REAL AND NOT JUST SOME WORDS WRITTEN BY WHITES TO MAKE THEM FEEL GOOD. THE SITUATION IS MUCH MORE SECURE FOR THE PROTAGONIST INTHE NORHT THY WILL NOT BE DISLODGED SO REAILY SECONDLY WE WILL SEE WHAT WE ARE SEEING IN SYRIA. THE WEST IS PALYING A VERY DANGEROUS GAME THEY ALLY THEMSELVES WITH THOSE THEY CALIAM THEY ARE AT WAR WITH TO ACHIVE CERTAIN ENDS. WHAT THEY DO NTO KNOW IS THAT IT WILL NEVER EVR BE FOR THIER BENIFIT. THEY DOO THESE MISCHIEVOUS THINSG FOR GREED POWER AND TO ME FOR THE BLOOD AND CHAOS IT BRINGS. ECOWAS HAD A CHANCE TO UNIFY THE NATION BRINGING IT UNDER THE WEST AFRICAN STAES WHERE THEY COUDL HAVE ALL WORKED HARMONIOUSLY TO FIND ANSWERS AND MEND FENCES. THEY CHOSE BY PRTOCOL TO ASK WASHINGTOM AND PARIS IF THEY CAN GO IN TO STRAIGHTEN OUT THIER HOMES? THAT TO ME IS FOOLSIHNESS. THEY STILL HAVE NOT SAID YEA OR NAY ! WHEN THEY DECIDE IT WLL EB NEXT YERA ; WHAT ARE THEY PLAYING AT ?, GOING INTO MALI WITH MARINES AND ALL TANKS BLASTING DROPPING BOMBS DESTROYING THE HERITAGE SITE?? THIS SOUND LIKE THIER PLAN. AFRICA NEEDS TO STEP UP THIER IDEAS WITH NON APOLOGETIC IDEAS WE NEED TO SEE CHAMPIONS NOT PUPPY DOGS THAT LIKK!!!!! THERE SHOULD HAVE BEEN MUCH PARLAYING BETWEEN THE TAUREGS AND THE OTHER PARTICPITANTS DEFINING WHAT THEY FEEL COULD BRING FORWARD THE UNITY OF THE NATION!! IT SEEMS MUCH TOO LATE NOW . THE NEW STATE IS BORN"