More than 4,000 people are being forced to flee their homes every day in Burkina Faso amid growing terrorist attacks by terrorist groups, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees said on Friday.
“In Burkina Faso, recent attacks by militants on civilians and local authorities have forced a daily average of more than 4,000 people to flee their homes and search for security since January 1,” the UNHCR said in a statement.
So far, 765,000 people have already been displaced, it added.
“People fleeing the violence report attacks on their villages by militant groups, killing, raping, looting. Afraid of these attacks, residents have left everything to find safety,” the UN said, adding that this is a 16-fold increase over January 2019. An estimated 150,000 people have fled in the past three weeks.
Andrej Mahehic, a spokesman for the UNHCR, told reporters in Geneva that most of the displaced now live in host communities where it is difficult to reach help.
UN figures show that terrorist attacks in the Sahel countries of Mali, Niger and Burkina Faso killed 4,000 people in 2019, causing an unprecedented humanitarian crisis – after forcing 600,000 to flee their homes. More than 4,400 Niger refugees had arrived in Mali, fleeing attacks in the Tillaberi and Tahoua regions, according to the UNHCR.
The refugees found safety in the Malian towns of Anderamboukane and Menaka – they joined another 7,700 displaced Malays in the same area. More people continue to cross the border between Niger and Mali, it is said.
UNHCR reiterated its call for the protection of civilians and those fleeing violence.
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