Governments must not turn their back on the Sahel, Oxfam and others warn

In reaction to the postponement of the Sahel donor conference, which was due to take place on 18 June, Oxfam together with Action Against Hunger, CARE International, Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC), and Save the Children, warned of a "hunger pandemic" in the Sahel on top of multiple crises, particularly as a result of COVID-19, conflict and the onset of the lean season.  24 million people (included children) are already in need of urgent humanitarian assistance.

"Faced with the urgency of the situation in the Sahel and at a time when the hunger gap between July and August will further worsen the situation for millions of people, the postponement of the donor conference is a further blow that could be fatal for millions of people in the Sahel. Hunger does not wait. The international community cannot abandon the Sahel at a time when people need help the most. We are at a breaking point," the aid agencies said. 

As violence and massacres continue, forcing more people to flee their homes, their needs are huge and pressing. At the same time funding is scarce and slow, with only 26 percent or less of the humanitarian response plans in the Sahel are funded for the first half of 2020, and in 2019. 

COVID-19 has exacerbated the humanitarian and food crises. 5.5 million people are expected to be food insecure in the Central Sahel during the lean season, 2.5 times higher than the average rate in the last five years. While countries' measures to slow the spread of the virus have prevented a COVID-19 worst-case scenario, they have made people more vulnerable, especially those already worst off. 

In Kaya, Burkina Faso, in April 2020, internally displaced people (IDPs) in Kaya protested in front of the town hall, calling for help. The situation is dramatically worse for women who are depriving themselves of food to save their children, whose health could rapidly deteriorate from lack of food.

"Coronavirus came and changed everything in my life," said 15-year-old Ali, who lives in Niger's Maradi region. "I used to be able to eat at least three times a day, now I can barely eat twice a day. My father doesn't go out much anymore to look for money like he used to,” he said.

"The COVID-19 pandemic has added further pressure to an already untenable situation. The lean season has always been a difficult time for people in the Sahel. But with the current situation, and the added dangers of this season, when the rains will come and increase cases of malaria and cholera, it is a time-bomb. With the current disease and pandemic, access to essential health services and water today is even more essential and largely lacking", said the organizations. 

"This disease scares us. We are told that we need hygiene, but we don't have water, we don't have food," said Zara, an IDP in Kaya. "With the rainy season coming, we will soon need shelter and medicines too,” she said.

"Faced with this unprecedented situation, several heads of state have proclaimed the need to show solidarity with Africa. Today, this expression of goodwill does not translate into effective action. Humanitarian donors urgently need to at least double their humanitarian funding for the Sahel over the next two months," said the organizations.

The international community must support Sahel countries’ efforts to deal with the multiple challenges they face. For 2020 according to OCHA, 2.8 billion US Dollars are needed in the Sahel to provide vital aid to 24 million people. An extra $638 million has been requested to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic.