Brussels (Brussels Morning) – The European Commission grants €201 million for humanitarian aid in Sahel and Lake Chad, targeting food security, health care, and protection for vulnerable populations.
The European Commission is providing €201 million in EU humanitarian grants to address the requirements of the most vulnerable people impacted by the humanitarian crisis in Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Chad, Mali, Mauritania, Niger and Nigeria. The notification comes on the occasion of the Senior Officials gathering on Sahel and Lake Chad, observed by Commissioner Janez Lenarčič in Brussels.
What are the EU’s plans for humanitarian aid distribution?
According to the European Commission, the funding will assist in food security and assistance for malnutrition, health care and protection, water, sanitation and hygiene, shelter and education movements, as well as the transport of humanitarian workers and supplies to isolated and inaccessible locations. The EU humanitarian aid response will persist to focus on the countries and areas directly impacted by ongoing insecurity and conflict, including West Africa’s coastal nations already impacted by the spillover from Central Sahel.
How will €201 million aid the Sahel region’s needs?
The overall funding will fund humanitarian projects in Burkina Faso (€26.9 million); Cameroo (€21 million); and Chad (€57.9 million, including the recently allocated €8.7 million in response to the effects of the conflict in Sudan to the neighbouring nations and another €3.1 million to fund an EU Humanitarian Air Bridge operation in the East,
In addition to the first €45.3 million announced by Commissioner Lenarčič during his visit to the land at the end of January 2024) – Mali (€24 million) – Mauritania (€5.7 million, including the mounting of €3 million allocated in January 2024 in reaction to the increasing number of Malian refugees in Mauritania); – Niger (€24.6 million) – Nigeria (€31.5 million).
The funding also reinforces the response to epidemics and population movement, via the allocation of €2.4 million through the Emergency Toolbox, a mechanism to assist in sudden-onset crises especially dedicated to emergency reactions for vulnerable people outside the EU.
How is the Humanitarian Crisis Unfolding in the Sahel and Lake Chad Region?
The humanitarian crisis faced by the population in the countries of Sahel and Lake Chad regions is threatening. More than 35 million people need humanitarian aid in 2024 across Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Chad, Mali, Mauritania, Niger and Nigeria. This denotes one in five people in the Central Sahel (Burkina Faso, Mali, Niger) nations. Despite this, this situation remains largely underfunded: in 2023, humanitarian requests for the three Central Sahel countries acquired only about one-third of the funds required.
Insecurity and violence are the leading causes of the humanitarian crisis, with multiple outcomes in terms of protection of the people affected, but also their food security, forced displacement, or the functioning of basic services.
The food and nutrition crisis is one of the main negative consequences of the ongoing armed conflicts. In the two regions, more than 46 million people are estimated to be in a food crisis between June and August 2024. The worrying tendency is both on the scale of the food crisis and on its severity, with a 105% growth in the number of the population falling into food crisis, corresponding to the average over the last 5 years.
