APA – Ouagadougou (Burkina Faso) The head of the transitional government told parliamentarians on Tuesday that displaced people were returning to their homes.
“As of 23 May 2023, more than 20,457 households, comprising more than 125,227 people, had returned to their places of origin,” said Apollinaire Kyelem of Tambèla, without giving further details.
This is the first time that the transitional authorities have given exact figures on the number of displaced people who have returned to their villages.
At the end of March, the number of people displaced by terrorism passed the two million-mark, the National Council for Aid and Rehabilitation (CONASUR) said on Friday. In mid-May the figure was 2,062,534.
Last week, the government disputed these figures and called for the census to be repeated, arguing that it had been carried out in haste and that certain aspects had not been taken into account, particularly displaced people who had returned to their places of origin.
“Instructions have been given to take into account the shortcomings of the registrations in order to obtain a more realistic count of the number of IDPs,” insisted the Prime Minister of Burkina Faso.
Apollinaire Kyelem de Tambèla said that the government and its humanitarian partners were continuing their efforts to care for the displaced.
According to the Head of Government, 21,494 tonnes of food have been delivered “to hard-to-reach locations (…) through special ground and air operations. These included Djibo, Solhan, Sébba, Seytenga, Sollé, Kalsaka, Kelbo, Bourzanga and others.”
“For the coming rainy season, projects have been launched to provide better shelter for displaced people and to ensure their integration into agriculture and livestock farming,” said the Prime Minister.
Me Kyelem de Tambèla also denounced the attitude of “salaried workers” who have registered as IDPs, as well as people who in no way meet the criteria of displaced persons.
“To prevent abuses, joint monitoring committees made up of representatives of IDPs and the host community have been set up to assist the registration teams,” he said.
DS/ac/abj/APA