NIGER

After the coup in Niger, concerns about the supply of humanitarian aid.

NGOs have struggled to transport food and medical supplies since some ECOWAS neighbors closed borders and suspended air traffic.

“It will cost lives. These words from Gregor Robak-Werth, Director of Action Against Hunger (ACF) in Niger, sum up the alert issued by all the major humanitarian NGOs working with the most vulnerable populations in the Sahelian country of 25 million inhabitants, destabilized by General Abdourahamane Tiani's coup on 26 July.

Since the decision of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) to close the borders of its members, in particular those of Benin and Nigeria, aid no longer passes. The suspension of air traffic in Niamey, with the exception of a few flights authorized by the junta that overthrew the elected president Mohamed Bazoum, adds to the deadlock of the situation.

The United Nations Children's Fund (Unicef), the most important actor of international solidarity, expressed alarm, in a press release published Monday, August 21, to see fifty of its emergency therapeutic food containers blocked, vaccines, syringes and equipment essential for maintaining the cold chain for medicines and foodstuffs. Two are being held at the Beninese border and twenty-nine others, whose arrival is scheduled for the port of Cotonou in the next few hours, will be added to the nineteen already waiting to be transported to the 2 million children. under 5 suffering from malnutrition. Among them, nearly 500,000 are on probation, suffering from its most serious form.

             Chronic underfunding

ACF sees a large shipment of Plumpy Nuts, a peanut-based nutritional product that helps to eradicate severe malnutrition in children, held up at the Burkinabe border, while six tons of medicines chartered by cargo plane in Germany await a hypothetical take-off authorization for Niger. “We do not know why everything is suspended in Burkina, indicates Gregor Robak-Werth, whereas, normally, it circulates without hindrance. Burkina, excluded from ECOWAS after the two putsches carried out in January and October 2022, has kept its border with Niger open.

If the situation remains unchanged, within five to six weeks, the impact will be critical, warns Yawo Douvon, director of CARE in Niger. The country is already experiencing the converging effects of climate change, conflict and rising food prices. »