To analyse
Displaced people: The world's ten most neglected crises are in Africa
A soldier of the DRC armed forces in a village near Beni (North Kivu), February 18, 2020 (illustration).
AFP - ALEXIS HUGUET
Text by: Sabine Cessou Follow
5 mins
In the context of the 77th General Assembly of the United Nations, marked by a polarization on Ukraine and Russia, Africa seems to take a back seat.
Yet it was on its soil that the world's 10 most neglected displacement crises occurred last year.
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According to a Norwegian refugee aid NGO which annually identifies the ten
most neglected crises in the world,
these were, for the first time, all located in Africa in 2021. The Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) measures situations in function of three variables: "
the lack of international political will, the lack of humanitarian aid and the lack of media interest
".
The most forgotten countries in 2021 are in this order:
the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC)
, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, South Sudan, Chad, Mali, Sudan, Nigeria, Burundi and Ethiopia.
“
With the polarization around the war unfolding in Ukraine on European soil, I fear that African suffering is taking a little more to the background
,” warns Jan Egeland, the secretary general of NRC.
The DRC, a textbook case
The DRC alone has 5.5 million displaced people and 1 million refugees in 2021. A textbook case of international neglect, despite the costly deployment of Monusco since 1999, a United Nations mission today today on departure.
While 27% of its population suffered from hunger in 2021, no high-level meeting of donor countries was held on the DRC, and only 44% of the 2 billion dollars requested by the United Nations for aid humanitarian aid have been granted.
The situation has worsened this year with the resurrection of the M23 rebellion in North Kivu, tensions with neighboring Rwanda and
persistent
food insecurity .
"It's one of the worst humanitarian crises of the century,
" says Jan Egeland
.
And yet, those with the power to change the game, in Africa and elsewhere, are turning a blind eye to the waves of brutal and targeted attacks on civilians that are shattering communities
”.
► To read also: DRC: the displaced from the clashes between the M23 and the army in total precariousness
Terrorism and migration, donor priorities in the Sahel
The central Sahel, plunged into a spiral of violence, poverty and climate change, has seen the number of displaced people increase tenfold in less than ten years.
It fell from 213,000 in 2013 to 2.6 million at the end of 2021. The Lake Chad basin is particularly vulnerable.
The protection of the displaced there remains very basic, according to the Norwegian NGO, despite the presence of UN agencies.
"
The relative neglect of the central Sahel is due to the fact that donors are above all concerned about the security and migration situation, by releasing resources for these issues, instead of humanitarian aid,
explains for his part Richard Danziger, former regional director of the International Organization for Migration (IOM) in West and Central Africa.
When one thinks of the Sahel, terrorism and migration to Europe via Libya are the first things that come to mind, not the thousands of displaced people who cannot afford to live on their own.
Furthermore, it is not these displaced people who have the resources to travel to the Mediterranean
”.
"
Rebuilding relations with Paris and Europe
"
The positioning of a part of Africa during the vote on March 2 by the United Nations on a resolution demanding that "
Russia immediately cease the use of force against Ukraine
", does it risk aggravating what is called
donor fatigue
or “
donor fatigue
”?
A total of 21 African countries abstained, including Mali, Sudan and South Sudan, or were absent, such as Burkina Faso, Cameroon and Ethiopia.
The abstainers, who have chosen the same path as India and China, were
questioned
on Tuesday September 20 at the United Nations platform by French President Emmanuel Macron, who then chaired a dinner on the "North-South divide". , more than ever on the agenda.
"
There is talk in the forums of
'retracting the humanitarian space'
in Africa
, analyzes Francis Akindès, sociologist at the University of Bouaké,
because of a political context that has changed.
In their discourses on the post-colony, French-speaking Africans want to redefine their relationship with Paris and Europe.
From the point of view of the OECD countries, why put in the money if it is to have so many problems with Africa?
The message being sent back to them, between the lines, is that the continent can handle its crises.
Especially since global geopolitics seems marked by a withdrawal into oneself which changes everything in the relationship to others
”.
The evolution of the world around a new East-West axis undoubtedly contributes to the "
fragmentation
” of part of Africa, a new land of choice for Russian influence, including among the countries whose crises are the most neglected.
► To read also: What to remember from the first day of the UN General Assembly
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