Burkina Faso Needs Aid, Violence Protection for 6.3 mln People: UN


TEHRAN (Tasnim) – Burkina Faso faces an unprecedented crisis with 6.3 million people needing protection from deadly violence and aid to get back on their feet, UN humanitarians said on Friday.

The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said it and its partners "are doing everything we can to support the government's efforts to meet people's immediate needs and, crucially, to help crisis-affected people get back on their feet," Xinhua reported.

Burkina Faso, on the south-central fringe of the Sahel and one of the poorest countries in the world, has been hit with deadly terror attacks since the mid-2010s.

OCHA said that by working through the UN Humanitarian Response Plan, aid organizations have assisted more than 730,000 people across Burkina Faso this year. "While this is a good start, this represents just 19 percent of the 3.8 million people we are aiming to assist."

The office said this year's 935 million US dollar plan is only 17 percent funded at 157 million dollars.

OCHA said earlier this week it welcomed Burkina Faso Minister of Humanitarian Action Nandy Some-Diallo to the annual meeting of the Economic and Social Council on Transition from Relief to Development.

"She outlined key efforts by the government to provide life-saving relief and promote resilience," the humanitarians said.