With the recent escalation of the conflict in Mali, including the intervention of French and Malian armed forces, the dire situation for tens of thousands of Malian refugees is set to worsen, according to a new report published today by international aid agency Oxfam.
With fighting intensifying in Mali and the French military intervention, Oxfam Australia fears there will be tighter restrictions on humanitarian access that will lead to a significant increase in the humanitarian needs of people in the region.
As the humanitarian crisis in eastern Congo grows, with thousands of people fleeing new fighting in the past 48 hours, international aid agency Oxfam is stepping up the supply of life-saving aid to more than 80,000 people in and around Goma.
In the war-torn Democratic Republic of Congo, an AK-47 assault rifle costs as little as $20.
Recent conflict in eastern DRC has forced tens of thousands of people to flee their homes, with an estimated 120,000 people now in urgent need of aid, international agency Oxfam said today.
International aid agency Oxfam has warned that devastating floods in Niger are affecting more than 500,000 people, most of whose basic needs are not being met.
Former leader of the Australian Democrats and South Australian senator Natasha Stott Despoja will travel to Burkina Faso in West Africa this week to meet with communities affected by the current food crisis.
British actor Bonnie Wright, best known for her role in the Harry Potter films, travelled to Senegal last week with Oxfam to draw attention to the growing humanitarian crisis in the country and to the wider food crisis across the Sahel region of West Africa.
One year after South Sudan’s independence on July 9, the young country is facing its worst humanitarian crisis since the end of the war in 2005, under the weight of severe economic meltdown and ongoing conflict. Long-term and emergency efforts to help nearly half the population, who don’t have enough to eat, could be derailed by an economy out of control, warned the international aid agency Oxfam.
International aid agency Oxfam Australia is today launching its West Africa Food Crisis appeal as the situation in the region heads towards the peak of the hunger season.
Across the Sahel region of West and Central Africa, more than 18 million people are affected by the severe food crisis, with more than one million children at risk of severe malnutrition.