EU increases assistance for Sahel region

The European Commission Friday announced assistance worth 34 million euro for immediate food aid for the most vulnerable people in the Sahel region including Mauritania, Senegal, Gambia, Mali, Niger, Chad, and Burkina Faso.
“Millions of people in the Sahel are exposed to the risk of hunger and it is crucial that we keep helping to meet their immediate needs. This emergency aid continues in parallel with the European Union’s work with the Sahel countries and partners on strengthening the resilience of the most vulnerable people to future crises,” said Christos Stylianides, EU Commissioner for Humanitarian Aid and Crisis Management, in a press statement.
This new funding brings the European Commission’s total humanitarian aid for the Sahel region to 185 million euro in 2015.
The EU’s executive body noted that the Sahel crisis remains extremely complex. One in seven people in the region – more than 20 million in total – do not have enough affordable and nutritious food for healthy life. As many as 5.8 million children suffer from acute malnutrition and 4.3 million people need emergency relief.
The conflict in northern Nigeria and Mali further aggravates the situation that drove hundreds of thousands of refugees looking for shelter in Mauritania, Niger, Burkina Faso, Chad and Cameroon.