Thousands of people have been forced to leave their homes in recent weeks due to fighting across northern Burkina Faso, the International Committee of the Red Cross announced on Friday
MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 01st November, 2019) Thousands of people have been forced to leave their homes in recent weeks due to fighting across northern Burkina Faso, the International Committee of the Red Cross announced on Friday.The northern part of Burkina Faso has been suffering from activities of Islamist groups linked to al-Qaeda and Islamic State terrorist organizations (both banned in Russia) since 2016.
"A lot of women and children left everything to escape the violence. They travelled by foot, cart or donkey to seek safety in the town and arrived with next to nothing," Thierry Mugisho, the ICRC's coordinator of operations in the country, said in a statement.
The organization draws attention to the dire conditions the displaced people find themselves in, considering frequent food shortages in the country.
"The population increase has put a lot of pressure on resources in Djibo [a town in northern Burkina Faso], especially since it's hard to get supplies to the market at the moment," Mugisho said.
The ICRC and the Burkinabe Red Cross have been actively trying to ameliorate the situation for the people affected by the fighting, including food distribution to over 50,000 displaced people in the Sahel and Nord regions, restoration of water sources throughout the Sahel and Est regions, and vaccinating 68,000 cattle in one the province of Oudalan. On November 1, the ICRC begins the next round of livestock vaccination, planning to give vaccine to 350,000 cattle.
