The Gibsons online blog

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.