Aid in short supply for Mali refugees

Volunteers and NGOs are doing their best to help Malian refugees, who fled the fighting in the north of their country, but in this border region of western Niger aid is scarce. Under makeshift tents, made of rags tied to sticks stuck into the arid ground, thousands of refugees brave the stifling heat in this Niger village about a dozen kilometres (seven miles) from the Malian border. They are pretty much used to the heat, "but there's nothing to eat here, or drink", said Moussa Guindo, from northern Mali, who is trying to help his compatriots. Guindo created the non-governmental organisation "Aidons Nos Freres" (Let's help our brothers) after rebel Tuaregs launched a military offensive in mid-January which Malian armed forces have since tried to contain. Fighting has been marked by battles on the ground, air strikes and, according to some accounts, by summary executions, but a toll is difficult to establish even if both sides claim to have inflicted heavy losses. The clashes have led to an exodus of more than 172,000 people from their homes to more central Malian regions and to other countries, mainly Mauritania, Burkina Faso and Niger, according to estimates by the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) on Thursday. OCHA said Chinagodrar has seen more than 13,000 refugees arrive from Mali in two months -- Malians and people from Niger living in Mali. This is more than eight times the population of this village which numbered about 1,600 before the crisis. Security is being ensured by a Niger army unit which was sent to Chinagodrar and at night army vehicles patrol the village. Guindo and his NGO are lacking the proper means but they are collecting dried meat and cereals, mainly at Gao in northeast Mali, from traders and civil servants, as well as medical drugs and water canisters to help the refugees. "When it's hot which is the case right now you drink more water, but water is a luxury here," said Guindo. Other charities and Niger authorities are also active on the ground but their help is not enough to alleviate the suffering of a child with a swollen belly and a fever. Oumar Seny, an "Aidons Nos Freres" nurse, tries to help with a painkiller, but 50-year-old Machoud whose left foot is also swollen still needs assistance. He stepped on a rusty nail when he fled the fighting, according to a translator. "We're missing everything," complained a father. "There's no food, there's no medicine. There's nothing to drink. There's nothing." Aklinine Ag Bokny hails from the Malian border village of Anderamboukane, where heavy fighting broke out between the Malian rebels and the army. "We want to go home as soon as possible. But when will this war stop?" "We really want this to stop quickly so we can go home," added student Abdoulaye Dibate who visited his family in the north when the rebellion broke out. Nurse Seny regrets that refugees are suffering from low morale -- "a disease difficult to treat", he said. "We cannot follow up the psychological suffering." OCHA said there had been plans to relocate the refugees from Chinagodrar to Ouallam, a town more than 150 km (90 miles) to the southwest, from March 4, but they were put on hold. Refugees initially agreed to the transfer but then retracted arguing that the new camp was too far from the border.