The Growing Mali Refugee Crisis

Conditions Getting Worse For Mali Refugees -- Voice of America

DAKAR — Despite the military success of the now three month-old French-led intervention in northern Mali, aid agencies say the situation of more than 450,000 Malian refugees and IDPs is getting worse, not better.

International aid organizations are calling for ramped up assistance for displaced Malians who have fled the north in the past 16 months and don’t look to be returning home any time soon.

Valery Mbaoh Nana is the spokesperson for the International Committee of the Red Cross in Bamako. “What is going on now, in northern Mali now, unfortunately, is not very good. We’ve witnessed some security problems in some major cities, like Gao, in the past weeks," Nana said. "And that makes these IDPs afraid to go back home. They are expecting to have a better security situation before they go back home.”

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Update: Mali refugees endure 'appalling' Mauritania camp -- BBC

My Comment: To add to the crisis .... the only ones who have been able to stabilize the situation are now preparing to leave.