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One Million Flee Their Homes in Burkina Faso as Crisis Mounts

One Million Flee Their Homes in Burkina Faso as Crisis Mounts

The number of people who’ve fled their homes in Burkina Faso has reached one million as a humanitarian crisis fueled by jihadist violence is compounded by low rainfall and Covid-19 restrictions, the Norwegian Refugee Council said.

More than 450,000 people were newly displaced this year while the Burkinabe Council for Emergency Relief and Rehabilitation recorded 184 attacks against civilians, the organization said in a statement Tuesday. In January 2019, the number of displaced nationwide was about 87,000.

Burkina Faso has recorded a surge of militant violence near its eastern borders since 2016, following the path of its neighbor Mali, which has failed to push out al-Qaeda-linked fighters since 2012 despite a huge United Nations peacekeeping operation. Executions, kidnappings and other forms of violence have claimed 1,791 lives this year, according to the Armed Conflict Location & Event Data Project.

“These shocking figures prove how catastrophic the situation is and should provoke the international community to do more to help those in desperate need,” Manenji Mangundu, country director for the NRC in Burkina Faso, said in the statement.

©2020 Bloomberg L.P.