Thousands Of Mali Refugees 'Stranded In Desert'

By Lisa Holland, Foreign Affairs Correspondent

A leading charity has warned of a growing humanitarian crisis in west Africa, with around 70,000 refugees stranded in the Mauritanian desert with no hope of returning to their home country of Mali.

A woman and child next to their makeshift shlter the Mbera refugee camp

Medecins Sans Frontieres (Doctors Without Borders) is calling for an urgent aid operation to help them.

Their report, Stranded In The Desert, is based on testimonies collected from more than 100 refugees in Mbera refugee camp in Mauritania.

It tells of their isolation in the middle of the desert and their total dependence on outside assistance and humanitarian aid.

Tents set up by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees

Henry Gray, emergency co-ordinator for MSF, said: "More than 100,000 people from northern Mali are currently displaced within their country or have escaped abroad as refugees.

"Most of the refugees are from the Tuareg and Arab Communities. They fled pre-emptively often for fear of violence due to their presumed links with Islamist or separatist groups.

"Their home in northern Mali is still in the grip of fear and mistrust."

More than 100,000 people from northern Mali are currently displaced

In November 2012, MSF conducted a retrospective nutritional mortality survey that revealed a critical nutrition situation with mortality rates above the emergency threshold for children under two years old.

But since the crisis in Mali which saw French military intervention to push back Islamist militants in early 2013, MSF said the medical situation has got worse.

It said the military intervention triggered an influx of 15,000 new refugees.

The number of children with severe malnutrition has more than doubled

Consultations in MSF's clinics in the Mbera camp have increased from 1,500 to 2,500 per week.

The number of children admitted per week for severe malnutrition has more than doubled from 42 to 106 despite the nutritional status of the new refugees being generally good when assessed on arrival at the camp.

MSF said 85% of the children being treated arrived at the camp in January and February.

Malian refugee children attend a school in the Mbera refugee camp

Mr Gray said: "These statistics show that the refugees have grown weaker whilst in the camp, the very place where they should have been receiving assistance.

"There has clearly been a lack of preparation for this new influx of refugees. The situation has improved in recent weeks but it is still extremely precarious and aid organisations need to maintain their humanitarian response for as long as necessary.

"Shelter, clean water, latrines, hygiene and food must all reach those in need and be sustained at the minimum humanitarian standards."

A refugee and his family in front of their shelter

France intervened in Mali in January to help the weak Malian army recapture the vast northern desert region from Islamist militants.

The Islamist groups had formed an alliance with Tuareg separatists early in 2012 to capture territory from the government in the wake of the coup.

The alliance quickly collapsed and the Islamists drove out the Tuareg separatist group - the MNLA - from the main cities and towns in the north.

French military intervention against Islamist groups in Mali

France has meanwhile begun to withdraw troops it sent to Mali. Around 100 of the 4,000 sent to the west African nation in January have been withdrawn to Cyprus.

It told Europe it had to act to stop the Islamists gaining strength in north Africa and on Europe's doorstep. It intervened when the Islamist fighters threatened to march on the capital Bamako.

A regional African force has now arrived in Mali to boost its security.

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