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Relief for the 8 million people affected by the huge Nepal earthquake six months ago is still being disrupted by delays in reinstating the government’s National Reconstruction Agency, says Oxfam. An on-going fuel crisis is adding to the problems, putting at risk the health and safety of thousands of people as winter approaches. More than 8,600 people were killed and half a million houses destroyed by the quake.

“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.

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.