West and Central Africa: Weekly Regional Humanitarian Snapshot (21 - 28 November 2016)

BURKINA FASO

DENGUE FEVER ON THE RISE

As of 19 November, there were 1,716 suspected dengue fever cases and 18 deaths since the outbreak first erupted in the country in early November. Some of the samples taken for testing in Institut Pasteur de Dakar in Senegal have turned out positive for dengue. A team of two virologists and two entomologists from the Institut Pasteur has deployed to support the national health authorities contain the outbreak.

CENTRAL AFRICAN REPUBLIC

AID GROUPS RESUME OPERATIONS

Four aid groups that had suspended work in the western Batangafo area due to insecurity resumed operations on 21 November. Insecurity, however, remains a major hindrance to humanitarian operations in the country. Several incidents of violence and assault against civilians and humanitarian workers since the start of November had led the four NGOs to temporarily suspend nonessential activities. They urged the UN peacekeeping force MINUSCA to tighten security and called on the local leaders to facilitate the work of aid groups.

GUNMEN HINDER ACCESS TO HOSPITAL

The acting UN Humanitarian Coordinator, Michel Yao, on 23 November condemned the presence of armed men around Bria hospital in the central Haute-Kotto prefecture. Two days earlier on 21 November, clashes between armed groups claimed several lives, wounded more than 50 people and displaced over 10,000 others. Although a medical team is providing services at the hospital, the presence of the armed men is preventing other patients from accessing treatment.

NIGERIA

SUICIDE ATTACK TARGETS IDP CAMP

Two suicide bombers on 23 November detonated explosives outside a camp for the displaced in Maiduguri, the capital of the north-eastern Borno state. The assailants carried out the attack after failing to gain entry into the camp which hosts more than 23,000 people. The explosion occurred less than a week after suspected Boko Haram elements targeted another camp in Maiduguri in a similar way. Camps hosting displaced people have come under increasing attacks recently in Maiduguri where hundreds of thousands of people forced from their homes by violence have sought refuge.

REPUBLIC OF CONGO

JOINT TEAM ASSESSES HUMANITARIAN NEEDS

A joint UN and Government team conducted a mission on 21 - 25 November in the southern Pool department, the scene of a military operation following a militant raid in the capital Brazzaville after the March presidential election. Some 12,986 people had been displaced in the region as of early November. The mission was deployed to assess the humanitarian situation, population movements and identify emergency needs and ways of supporting the displaced.