Red Cross assists migrants arriving in large numbers in Mali
By the AFREEQUE newsroom, based on Bamada.net
More than 100,000 people from the gold-mining areas of Siguiri, Guinea, have reached Bamako from Kourémalé, according to Malian authorities. Since the alert on 3 November, the Malian Red Cross and the ICRC have provided healthcare, food and medical kits to migrants, according to Nicolas Lambert, head of the ICRC delegation in Mali.
The Malian Red Cross (CRM), with support from the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), has provided emergency assistance to migrants who arrived in Mali after leaving the gold-mining areas of Siguiri, Guinea. Its teams have been operating since 5 November at reception sites in Bamako and Kourémalé, as well as at transit points in Sikasso and Bougouni, according to CRM Director General Nouhoum Maiga.
The assistance includes the distribution of food and access to water, first aid, psychosocial support, restoration of family links, as well as sanitation and hygiene activities. The ICRC has also provided emergency medical kits to some public facilities, while the Red Cross societies of Belgium, the Netherlands, Denmark and Luxembourg are participating in the response, according to Nouhoum Maiga.
The ICRC is coordinating the intervention with Mali’s Ministry of Health and Social Development and the Ministry of Security and Civil Protection. Nicolas Lambert, head of the ICRC delegation in Mali, said the assistance is aimed in particular at addressing the migrants' health, food and family needs.
The response comes after the Guinean army closed the gold-panning sites in Siguiri on 6 November and tens of thousands of people arrived in Mali. It follows assistance provided to gold miners expelled from Guinea on 8 November and the recording of an influx of 160,000 people in Kourémalé on 9 November.
