UNHCR launches $186mn crisis appeal for Sahel region

The United Nations Refugee Agency has launched a $186 dollar crisis appeal for the Sahel region.

The fund will mainly provide lifesaving protection and assistance to refugees, internally displaced persons, returnees and host communities in the Central Sahel region.

The appeal includes the 97 million dollar in initial requirements for 2020, $29 million to implement COVID-19 prevention and response measures and additional $60 million to scale up the UNHCR’s emergency response as part of its Sahel strategy.

Through this appeal, the Agency will be able to provide people who have fled wars and persecution and for the hosts that have been gracious to them.

There are 3.1 million refugees, internally displaced persons, returnees and people at risk of statelessness in the Sahel.

The Governments of Burkina Faso, Chad, Mali, Niger and Mauritania pledged to provide protection and solutions for these groups when they signed the Bamako Declaration in October 2019.

AP