You could call Jean-Philippe Debus an emergency action man. He’s often one of the first humanitarian workers to arrive on the scene of a crisis — whether natural disaster or manmade conflict. It’s his job to advise, to guide and to help provide those in need with the necessities, like clean water to drink or a safe place to bathe.
On May 10, a high level meeting chaired by President Donald Kaberuka, former British Prime Minister, Gordon Brown, and Tim Berners-Lee, founder of the Web Foundation elicited a lively debate among 10 Ministers of Education and Science and Technology from Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Ethiopia, Gambia, Ghana, Kenya, Morocco, Senegal, Sierra Leone and Uganda; who met with officials of Intel, Cisco, Alcatel-Lucent, HP, Adobe, and Microsoft among other leading technology companies in Africa.
Le Mali, comme la plupart des pays du Sahel, est cette année encore, touché par une crise Alimentaire due à une sècheresse prolongée qui affecte directement 3,5 millions de personnes réparties dans 210 communes. Cette situation se combine à une crise politique laissant le pays divisé. Le fait que de nombreuses personnes soient réfugiées et déplacées sur un vaste territoire complexifie la réponse à apporter par les agences et organisations humanitaires.
The Heads of States of Liptako Gourma (Burkina Faso, Mali, Niger) have sounded the alert regarding an impending crisis for the whole region. The Prime Minister of Burkina Faso confirmed the emergency food crisis in his speech to the nation on 30 March 2012.
Habsatou Abdulaye, 53, lives in Niaptana – one of many communities in Burkina Faso which regularly face food crises and where the Red Cross has helped women establish vegetable gardens, which provide a valuable source of nutrition.
Habsatou, who has eight children and is president of the Sandari vegetable garden group, says: “It’s a good programme that is working according to our needs. Thanks to the Red Cross we have this land here, which was not possible before.
(Ouagadougou/New York/Genève, 22 mai 2012): Les Nations Unies et leurs partenaires soutiennent les efforts du gouvernement du Burkina Faso pour répondre à la crise alimentaire et nutritionnelle qui affecte 2.8 million de personnes – soit un cinquième de la population – ainsi que 60.000 réfugiés maliens, a souligné aujourd’hui la Secrétaire générale adjointe aux affaires humanitaires et Coordonnatrice des secours d’urgence, Valerie Amos.
UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs:
The growing human cost of Niger’s hunger emergency can be seen in the dwindling frame of nine-month-old Karima.
Over the last four months she has lost half her body weight, coinciding with the failed harvest in this southern Dosso region of the country.
In recent weeks her condition has worsened and her mother, 25-year-old Dayaba, has brought Karima to Soukoukoutane health centre after a long journey by foot which began the previous day.
‘I feel weak and I have no breast milk for my baby which makes her cry,’ said Dayaba.
Mali - L’OIM lance un appel urgent de 3,5 millions de dollars en vue de fournir une aide vitale d’urgence aux Maliens déplacés qui ont fui les affrontements et l’insécurité au nord du pays pour se réfugier à Bamako, la capitale, à Mopti, ville portuaire du nord et à Kayes, à l’ouest du pays.
Humanitarian chief supports Burkina Faso’s approach to food crisis: Address urgent needs now and build resilience to future emergencies
(Ouagadougou/New York, 22 May 2012) The United Nations and its partners are supporting the efforts of the Government of Burkina Faso to respond to the food and nutrition crisis, which is affecting some 2.8 million people - or a fifth of the population - as well as some 60,000 Malian refugees, said Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator Valerie Amos today.
UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs:
NEW YORK, États-Unis, 21 mai 2012 - Comme les agences humanitaires s'alarment d'un manque important de financement pour faire face à la crise au Sahel, l'acteur et Ambassadeur de l'UNICEF, Ewan McGregor, a joint sa voix à tous ceux qui appellent à accentuer l'aide dans cette région.
ROME/GENÈVE- Le Programme alimentaire mondial des Nations Unies (PAM) a lancé une opération régionale d’urgence aux côtés du Haut Commissariat des Nations Unies pour les réfugiés (HCR) pour répondre aux besoins alimentaires spécifiques de centaines de milliers de personnes qui ont fui le conflit au Mali et franchi les frontières vers les pays voisins.
I. HIGHLIGHTS/KEY PRIORITIES
· An agreement between Malian authorities and ECOWAS mediators extends the mandate of interim President Traoré and mandates a one-year transition to civilian rule.
· The number of estimated IDPs in Mali has increased to 150,460 after new assessments were
conducted in Mopti cercles. A monitoring and identification system is being developed to enable
more accurate IDP assessments.
· According to the Government of Mali, 1.76 million people are affected by food insecurity in the north,including Segou and Mopti regions.
UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs:
The British Red Cross is sending a further £120,000 from its Disaster Fund to support the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement’s work in west Africa. The funds will be split evenly between projects in Senegal and Burkina Faso.
Thiombiano L’Oudalan, 71, lives in Burkina Faso. He said: “Last year the situation was bad but it has never been as bad as this year. First was the drought and then the locusts came and ate everything left on the fields.
ROME/GENEVA – The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) has launched a regional emergency operation alongside the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in response to the specific food needs of hundreds of thousands of people who have fled conflict in Mali and crossed the border into neighbouring countries.
Save the Children welcomes the announcement by Minister Carr to increase humanitarian aid to the Sahel region of West Africa where 13 million people are at risk of severe hunger.
The announcement lifts the Australian Government’s aid package to humanitarian relief organisations responding to the West Africa food crisis to $20 million, still way short of the $128 million contributed by the Australian Government to help tackle last year’s food crisis on the other side of the continent in the Horn of Africa.
IOM is urgently appealing for USD 3.5 million to provide immediate life-saving assistance to internally displaced Malians who have fled fighting and insecurity in the north of the country to seek shelter in the capital Bamako, the northern river port city of Mopti and the western city of Kayes.
IOM is also working with local partners, including the Malian Red Cross, the Association of Municipalities of Mali (AMM) and the Malian Civil Protection to gain access to displaced populations (IDPs) who remain trapped in northern conflict areas without adequate aid.
