Nearly four million people across Africa’s vast semi-arid Sahel region have been uprooted by a volatile mix of conflict, hunger and climate change, the UN warned on Friday, describing an unfolding protection and survival crisis that is pushing families to flee repeatedly. The figure represents a two-thirds increase in displacement over the past five years, with Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger at the epicentre of overlapping humanitarian emergencies.“Across the central Sahel, people are being driven from their homes by violence, insecurity, and the devastating effects of climate change,” said Abdouraouf Gnon-Kondé, Regional Director for West and Central Africa at the UN refugee agency (UNHCR). “Women and children make up 80 per cent of the displaced population, and the protection risks they face – from gender-based violence to trafficking and forced recruitment – are worsening.”. UN reports from the region note that entire communities having been emptied in Burkina Faso, northern Mali and western Niger as violence between armed groups, intercommunal clashes and military activity spreads.
In Africa’s Sahel, conflict and climate change force millions from their homes | UN News
