Tuesday, February 14, 2012

Who is my neighbour?

12:31 pm | Edit Post
After setting off at 5:30 am on my bike I finally reached the village of Mentao up near Djibo around 9:30 having swallowed a considerable amount of dust after traipsing behind a few trucks on the way. On reaching the Touareg camp I felt a little reticent at heading in with all the security issues in the Sahel regions over the past few years. Maybe you could call me a little irresponsible but I didn't feel I could not pay a visit. The scene was one of desperation as I rode through the village of makeshift tents to where my friend, Mohamed, was.


It's not the first time refugees have visited his camp. He himself came over as a refugee from Timbuktu in the early 90s and decided to stay as it was more peaceful in Burkina than in his home country of Mali. The second time was in 2008 when an uprising broke out between Touareg rebels and the Malian military as the Touaregs struggled for an independent state in the northern regions. That time the Mentao camp saw an increase of around 300 people and around 900 in the surrounding areas. This time, however, the number of people is over 1000 in Mohamed's camp alone.


It would be unwise of me to attribute blame to any given party or even make uninformed comments about governments but the mix of people who are fleeing over the border into Burkina don't paint a very good picture. They range from poor shepherds to business men, from Police to university student but the common theme is the colour of their skin and they are fleeing for their lives. Most have come with what they are standing up in where as others have tried to pack as much as possible into vehicles. There is no need to doubt the authenticity of their stories as you listen to the death threats put out on many of their lives with homes and businesses destroyed.

As we walked around the camp all my friend could say to me was, "how can I feed all these people? I have already used up any food that we had".

How do you answer a question like that? I'm hoping with action.

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Wednesday, February 01, 2012

Touaregs from Timbuktu

8:53 pm | Edit Post
This is not something that I tend to post on my blog but I have just had a call from a Touareg friend of mine in Djibo who has just received the news that there are refugees on their way to his camp from the bordering country of Mali. For many years there have been tensions between the Touareg people in the northern Timbuktu area and the Malian government. As I write this my friend is in the process of receiving refugees but with no means to feed them. A similar thing took place a number of years ago when close to 1000 Touaregs descended on mass to the Djibo area, many of them women and children plus thirteen pregnant women.

As of yet we don't know how desperate the situation is going to get but as this week continues we should get a clearer picture as to what may be needed to help alleviate some of the misery.

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