According to the UN, close to 4,000 people have been forced to flee their homes daily in Burkina Faso due to wild attacks on civilians by armed groups which have increased in number and frequency all through the year.
UN released a statement last Friday, it’s refugee agency (UNHCR) said more than 700,000 people were displaced in the past 12 months, with an estimated 150,000 of them being uprooted in the last three weeks alone.
“In Burkina Faso, the latest attacks by militants on civilians and local authorities have been forcing a daily average of more than 4,000 people to flee their homes and search for safety since Jan. 1. People fleeing the violence report attacks on their villages by militant groups, killing, raping, pillaging. Terrified of these attacks, residents have left everything behind to find safety,” the UNHCR said in a statement.
Most of the displaced people are now living in host communities, the UNHCR has been finding it difficult to assist them due to problematic access to some regions that have insecure situations.
UN figures show extremist attacks in Sahel countries of Mali, Niger and Burkina Faso killed 4,000 people in 2019, caused an unprecedented humanitarian crisis — has forced 600,000 to flee their homes.
The refugees found safety in the Malian towns of Anderamboukane and Menaka — joining another 7,700 displaced Malians in the same area. More people continue to cross the border between Niger and Mali, it said.
The UNHCR reiterated its call for the protection of civilian populations and those fleeing violence.
