The United Nations Refugee Agency condemned "in the strongest terms" the twin attacks in conflict-hit western Niger that killed at least 100 people, injured 25 others, and forced hundreds to flee at the weekend, UNHCR said in a statement on Monday.
Armed groups mounted coordinated attacks on the villages of Tchamo-Bangou and Zaroumdareye, in Niger’s Tillaberi region near the border with Mali. Some of the injured were evacuated to Ouallam and Niamey, 80 and 120 kilometres away respectively,said the statement.
“We express our deepest condolences to the families of the victims of these outrageous attacks on peaceful communities,” said UNHCR’s Representative in Niger, Alessandra Morelli.
“Communities which have now been torn apart by brutality and forced to flee in a region already hosting tens of thousands of people displaced by violence and hoping to rebuild their lives.”
Survivors of the attacks and the population of four other neighbouring villages have fled the area, according to local sources. At least 1,000 people are now on the move, trying to reach Ouallam in Niger's southwest. Many are making the journey on foot, according to UNHCR.
In Ouallam, UNHCR and its partners are already providing protection and humanitarian assistance to refugees and people who have fled their homes in Niger, as well as the vulnerable among their host communities. We are preparing to receive and register the new arrivals and provide shelter and other essential care.
“UNHCR and our partners are preparing for the people now on the road to offer them assistance and protection, but also psychological support to help them overcome the horror they have experienced” said Morelli.
UNHCR and Niger authorities are exploring ways to increase reception capacities in Ouallam, according to the statement.
The COVID-19 pandemic is hampering the humanitarian response in Niger’s Tillaberi and Tahoua regions, located near Liptako-Gourma which borders Burkina Faso and Mali and currently host 60,000 Malian refugees and nearly 4,000 who fled Burkina Faso, UNHCR said.
Liptako-Gourma is also hosting 138,229 internally displaced Nigeriens, a number that soared 77 percent in 2020, the UN agency stated.
Niger, Burkina Faso, and Mali in the Sahel are at the epicentre one of the world’s fastest growing displacement and protection crises. The region is already hosting 851,000 refugees and nearly two million people how have been displaced inside their own country, according to UNHCR.
