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Burkina Faso

UNICEF Burkina Faso Humanitarian Situation Report No. 09, 30 November 2024

Attachments

Highlights

  • In November 2024, 48 accelerated learning centres were opened in Djibo, Gorom, and Sebba for 1,920 students, including 1,050 girls and this action has created opportunities for continued education services for out-of-school children and other vulnerable children from IDPs.
  • 33,502 children under five (17,420 girls and 16,082 boys) were provided with treatment services against malaria (17,133 cases), diarrhea (5,937 cases) and pneumonia (10,432 cases) by community health workers across six humanitarian regions through the iCCM Initiative. This will progressively contribute to reduce the risks of children mortality.
  • 171,602 pregnant and lactating women, including 28,875 newly enrolled in mothers' support groups (GASPA), have received counselling on optimal feeding practices for infants and young children.
  • 4,337 people, including 4,027 children (2,229 girls and 1798 boys) and 310 caregivers (198 women) were provided with community-based psychosocial support services.
  • A total of 93,240 people, including 51,133 children, including internally displaced persons (IDPs) and host communities, have gained access to safe drinking water, sanitation facilities, and hygiene promotion messages in the Sahel, North, and Centre-North regions.

SITUATION OVERVIEW AND HUMANITARIAN NEEDS

The security situation in Burkina Faso remains highly volatile with an escalating trend of threat events related to armed conflict, asymmetric attacks, and criminality. The frequency and intensity of armed attacks shows a growing pattern compared to the previous period, mainly in Boucle Du Mouhoun, Est, and Nord regions where several armed incursions into rural villages carried out by different groups have been reported, with significant impact in terms of human casualties and civilian displacements to relatively safer areas. In November, 13,725 persons were dispaced following 4 alerts according to Groupe de Coordination Opérationnelle de la Réponse Rapide (GCORR). In addition, armed perpetrators intensified their attacks on Force de Defense et de Security (FDS) and Volontaire pour la Defense de la Patrie (VDP) sites in various regions, causing casualties and material damage.

The FDS has managed to provide safe passage to several supply convoys into hard-to-reach areas in Est, Nord, and Sahel through armed escort and the dismantling of Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs) along main roads. According to local sources, the convoy that departed Ouahigouya city arriving in Titao town in the Nord region on November 06, 2024, facilitated the return of around 2300 civilians to the town. A slight decrease in incidents for the Est and Centre-Est Region compared with October 2024.

The risk of civil unrest remains strongly correlated with socioeconomic and political developments, mainly in areas where access remains constrained, in particular in Tapoa, Kompienga, and Komondjari districts in the Est region. The consequence of the ongoing armed conflict is negatively impacting the socioeconomic situation of the inhabitants, hence increasing the likelihood of demonstrations and public marches. The current lifting of the curfew in the eastern region could offer a slight opportunity to the inhabitants of said locations to enhance the supply chain from Fada N’Gourma towards their localities.

In the Sahel region, the month was marked by increased security, as the rainy season ended. Illegal checkpoints, followed by kidnappings, assassinations and hijackings of goods 'trucks, were recorded in the Seno and Oudalan provinces, whose capitals, Dori and Gorom Gorom respectively, were the two main towns that received almost all of the displaced persons as reported by 4 alerts in the Sahel region this month. In addition, almost all 26 communes of the region, except for Dori, have been without supplies for an average of six months, plunging these populations into a situation of heightened instability regarding the availability of food and pharmaceutical products.