The G5 Sahel countries have been awarded $20 million grant by the African Development Bank (AfDB) to deal with the spread of the COVID-19, the Bank announced on Thursday.
By June 11, the disease has infected 5,661 people and claimed 357 lives in the G5 Sahel countries, comprising Mauritania, Mali, Burkina Faso, Niger and Chad.
“This operation will complement the development and humanitarian actions of the huge partnership of the Sahel Alliance Initiative and will support the most vulnerable,” said Yero Baldeh, Director, Transitions States Coordination Office.
According to the Bank, the grant will provide funding for the project aimed at boosting the resilience of vulnerable communities, especially internally displaced persons, refugees and their host communities.
Humanitarian experts say many families across Africa including Burkina Faso and Mali are being forcibly uprooted from their homes while the continent is struggling to contain the global pandemic.
The International Committee of the Red Cross’ (ICRC) suggests that Burkina Faso was last year the fastest growing displacement crisis from armed violence in Africa.
The humanitarian organization “provided food to more than 51,000 displaced people in the north and relief items to 9,000 people in the country’s east and east-central.”
Moreover, last week’s arm attack in central Mali left villages burned to the ground, herds and property looted, and families killed and other forced to flee.
ABJ/APA