<h4>80000 Children Trapped In Mali</h4>
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<p><strong><a href="https://openlife.ng/">OpenLife Nigeria</a></strong> reports that armed groups have trapped more than 140,000 people, including over 80,000 children, in the town of Menaka in Mali, where they are facing malnutrition and disease, following a similar blockade of the city of Timbuktu, Save the Children said.</p>
<p>A four-month blockade of Menaka by armed groups follows a similar siege in the historic city of Timbuktu, which started in August 2023 and remains in place, although some small amount of aid is now getting through.</p>
<p>As the siege in Menaka drags on, supplies in the city have reached critically low levels, with government and aid groups only able to deliver a very limited amount of food, medicines, and other essential items.</p>
<p>Over 80,000 children are trapped in Menaka, nearly a third of whom (33,600) have already fled fighting in other parts of the country and are staying in temporary shelters in camps and with host families.</p>
<p>Save the Children staff who recently had a rare chance to get into the town to carry out a week-long needs assessment were trapped there for three weeks, the aid group said.</p>
<p>Safiatou, 55, fled fighting in her village to come to Menaka and is now caregiver to six unaccompanied children. She said:</p>
<p><em><strong>“We came to Menaka after fleeing four months of terror in our village. We have no business or income – we lost everything. It’s the little helpers that keep us going. Some households are struggling just to have one meal a day. </strong></em></p>
<p><em><strong>&#8220;Our children are suffering from this chaotic situation, and we do not have what we need to provide for them.”</strong></em></p>
<p>According to the Cadre Harmonisé 2024 &#8211; a regional framework to identify food and nutrition insecurity in the Sahel and West Africa – over 40,000 people in Menaka are already facing emergency levels of hunger, and over 800 people in catastrophic levels of food insecurity, due to a combination of rising violence and climate change.</p>
<p>The situation is set to deteriorate in June, with over 49,000 people projected to be in the catastrophe phase of food insecurity – and needing immediate support to meet their basic needs.</p>
<p>Without aid arriving to these communities, there is the potential for total collapse of livelihoods and large-scale deaths in coming months, said Save the Children. Last year – before the siege began &#8211; a survey by the National Institute of Statistics report (INSTAT) showed that 19% of children in Menaka were experiencing either moderate acute malnutrition or severe acute malnutrition.</p>
<p>The blockade follows the siege of Timbuktu which began in August, trapping more than 136,000 people including nearly 74,000 children in the historic city and leading to a humanitarian catastrophe.</p>
<p>While the blockade remains in place, some aid and supplies have been allowed to enter the city in recent months.</p>
<p>Siaka Ouattara, Country Director of Save the Children in Mali, said:</p>
<p>“Children in Menaka are trapped in a living nightmare. Let us be clear: unless the blockade is lifted , starvation and disease will led to deaths.</p>
<p>“A third of these children fled to <a href="https://www.vanguardngr.com/">Menaka</a> thinking it was a safe refuge from violence back home. Many of these children are unaccompanied and separated – at grave risk of exploitation and abuse. They are unable to get the protection and support they need.</p>
<p>&#8220;We call on all actors to allow unfettered humanitarian access to populations in Ménaka who are in dire need of assistance.&#8221;</p>
<p>Save the Children has been working in Mali for over 35 years, with a presence in six regions. Save the Children has carried out a rapid multi-sectoral assessment in the town of Menaka and hopes to deliver aid to Safiatou* and others as soon as the blockade ends, and aid delivery is possible.</p>
<p><em><strong>Source: Save the Children</strong></em></p>
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