WHO: Ursula Mueller, UN Assistant Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Deputy Emergency Relief Coordinator Abdou Dieng, World Food Program Regional Director David Wright, Save the Children Regional Director

WHAT: Panel discussion on the humanitarian situation in Burkina Faso and the Sahel region

WHEN: 6 March 2019, 2.30 pm – 4.00 pm

WHERE:  Goethe-Institut, Point E, Dakar, Senegal

As part of the visit to Burkina Faso of the UN Assistant Secretary-General and Deputy Emergency Relief Coordinator, Ursula Mueller, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), organizes a Round table on the humanitarian situation in Burkina Faso and the Sahel on Wednesday, 6 March 2019, from 2.30 pm to 4.00 pm at the Goethe-Institut, Point E, Dakar. The event will be open to the press.

Burkina Faso faces an unprecedented humanitarian crisis, linked to the escalation of violence in the region and the vulnerability of communities to climate change. There are now 622,000 people directly affected by growing insecurity, and more than 492,000 people need urgent assistance to survive. The country is facing massive displacement and the number of people forced to leave their homes has more than doubled in the space of a few weeks.

Continuing insecurity in Mali, Niger and the Lake Chad Basin has also led to a rapid increase in forced displacement and worsened the impact of food insecurity, malnutrition and epidemics on affected populations.

The panelists will discuss the impact of the humanitarian situation on the affected communities and the perspectives and outlook in the Sahel for 2019.