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In reaction to the EU and US announcement of new sanctions against Mali, Oxfam and 12 other NGOs called for the international community to protect the people of Mali.  

West Africa is hit by its worst food crisis in a decade, with 27 million people going hungry. This number could rise to 38 million this June - a new historic level and already an increase by more than a third over last year- unless urgent action is taken.

“Oxfam calls for the immediate appointment of a new UN Personal Envoy for Western Sahara to restart the peace process without any further delay. The lack of progress has led to rising frustration within the refugee camps that the Western Sahara crisis is once again being forgotten by the international community, and risks the positive momentum towards a political solution that former Personal Envoy Horst Koehler had begun.”

The Western Sahara harbors one of the longest standing but yet unknown humanitarian disasters in recent history. Today, marking 40 years since the start, the UN Security Council is about to discuss the stalemate.

Over 170,000 people in the Sahrawi refugee camps are bracing for the Coronavirus as local authorities and organizations remain extremely underprepared for the pandemic due to dwindling funding, Oxfam said today.

In response to the announcement of the withdrawal of the Barkhane military operation and the Takuba forces from Mali, Oxfam's West Africa Regional Director, Assalama Dawalack Sidi said: "The withdrawal is a terrible admission of failure. Nearly ten years of military operations in the country have solved nothing as much of the Central Sahel continues to be plagued by conflict." 

Renewed fighting in Western Sahara between the Frente Polisario and Morocco after a 29-year ceasefire, threatens regional stability and renews fears for the security and future of Sahrawi refugees – most of whom have been displaced since 1975.