In 2020, nearly 5 million children will need humanitarian assistance in the Sahel region, the UN Children’s Fund said in a statement last week.

Compared to the 4.3 million children in the same situation last year, the new estimate makes an increase by 16.2%. UNICEF linked the situation to the resurgence of violence in the region targeting civilians and children, as well as an upsurge in the abduction and recruitment of children into armed groups.

Over the past years, the statement states, attacks against children escalated in the region. In Mali, 571 attacks targeting children were recorded between January and September 2019, against 544 the same period in 2018. Most affected countries are Burkina Faso and Niger where governments were forced to close schools to protect the kids.

UNICEF also estimates that this year, more than 709,000 children under the age of five will suffer from acute malnutrition and will need life-saving treatment in the Central Sahel region. Calling on governments, armed forces, non-state armed groups and other parties in the conflict to stop attacks on children, UNICEF announced an appeal for the implementation of its humanitarian response plan in the region by 2020. The agency plans to mobilize more than $208 million for this purpose.   

Moutiou Adjibi Nourou