Sahel Crisis

The region

In geographic terms, Africa’s Sahel region stretches across the continent from east to west—a semi-arid belt that lies between the Saharan desert to the north and savannas to the south. The word Sahel comes from Arabic and means "coast" or "shore of the desert".  In geopolitical terms, the Sahel is a vast region in Africa that includes the countries of Burkina Faso, Chad, Mali, Niger, northern Cameroon (Far North region), and northern Nigeria. The countries of the Sahel are among the least developed in the world. Niger, Chad, Burkina Faso and Mali rank at the bottom of the Human Development Index (HDI). 

The humanitarian situation

The Sahel region is facing one of the fastest-growing humanitarian crises in the world, with more than 33 million people in need of humanitarian aid in 2025. And at the same time, it is one of the most forgotten.  Armed conflict, deteriorating security, political instability, and widespread poverty are the main drivers of unprecedented humanitarian needs, particularly in the central Sahel region, which includes the countries of Burkina Faso, Mali, and Niger. This deteriorating humanitarian emergency is further compounded by the impact of the climate crisis and global food insecurity. Rapid climate change is causing natural disasters such as heavy flooding to occur with increasing frequency and severity. 

The latest waves of displacement in the region has pushed the total number of people forced to flee to more than 10 million people. As of February 2025, more than 7.6 million people were internally displaced within their own country in the Sahel, most of them within Burkina Faso (2.1 million internally displaced persons (IDPs)), Nigeria (3.5 million IDPs), and Cameroon (1 million IDPs). At least 2.4 million people have sought refuge in neighboring countries. 

All six countries - Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Chad, Mali, Niger, and Nigeria have made it on the Emergency Watchlist 2025 released by the International Rescue Committee (IRC). The Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) has identified the situations in Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Chad, Mali, and Niger as some of the most neglected displacement crises globally.  According to CARE International, the situations in in Burkina Faso, Cameroon, and Niger are among the world's forgotten crises that received the least media attention in 2024.

In 2025, 33.1 million people are in need of humanitarian aid in the six hardest-hit countries, which include Burkina Faso (5.9 million), Cameroon (3.3 million), Chad (7 million), Mali (6.4 million), Niger (2.7 million), and Nigeria (7.8 million). 

In 2024, the Sahel and neighboring countries faced major humanitarian challenges, with 35.2 million people in urgent need of life-saving humanitarian assistance and protection. The six countries where millions of women, men and children are estimated to be in need of humanitarian assistance included: Burkina Faso (6.3 million), Cameroon (3.4 million), Chad (6 million), Mali (7.1 million), Niger (4.5 million), and Nigeria (7.9 million). 

In 2023, 37.8 million people were in urgent need of life-saving humanitarian assistance and protection. While 24.1 million people in total were in need of humanitarian assistance in the countries of the Lake Chad Basin (Nigeria, Niger, Chad and Cameroon), 13.7 million people required humanitarian aid in the central Sahel countries of Burkina Faso and Mali. The six countries where millions of women, men and children were in need of humanitarian assistance included: Mali (9 million), Nigeria (8.3 million), Chad (6.9 million), Cameroon (4.7 million), Burkina Faso (4.7 million), and Niger (4.2 million). 

Burkina Faso: The people of Burkina Faso continue to experience a multidimensional humanitarian crisis that has worsened since 2019. Nearly 2.1 million people are displaced inside the country. A de facto blockade by armed groups of areas where more than 1 million people live or have sought refuge has deprived people of free movement and necessary supplies. 

Mali: Mali is experiencing enormous humanitarian needs. Some 30 percent of the population are projected to be in need of humanitarian assistance in 2025. Some 900,000 people across Mali are currently affected by crisis or worse levels of hunger, a figure that is expected to rise to 1.5 million during the lean season in 2025. The departure of the UN peacekeeping mission in Mali (MINUSMA) was completed by December 31, 2023, and has impacted conflict dynamics and resulted in fresh hostilities.  

Niger: Niger continues to face a combination of crises: persistent armed conflicts, climate-induced disasters, nutritional emergencies and epidemics, all of which have been exacerbated by political instability following a military coup in late July 2023. In 2025, an estimated 2.7 million people, including 1.3 million children, will require humanitarian aid. The estimated number of food-insecure people stands at 1.5 million people and will rise during the lean season to some 2.2 million.

Chad:  Protracted and rapid-onset multidimensional crises, aggravated by climate change, have created a challenging humanitarian situation for the people of Chad, with 7 million in need o faid. Among the recent crises in Chad has been the large influx of Sudanese refugees and Chadian returnees since April 2023. More than 1 million refugees and Chadian returnees have arrived since the start of the war. As of March 2025, Chad hosted more than 1.3 million refugees. 2.7 million people living in Chad are facing acute food insecurity on crisis level or worse, with 3.7 million projected between June and August 2025.

Cameroon:  In Cameroon, 3.3 million people urgently require humanitarian assistance due complex and multifaceted crises: armed conflict causing internal and cross-border displacement, intercommunal violence, disease outbreaks and seasonal flooding. There are still one million internally displaced people in the country. Cameroon is also hosting about 411,000 refugees and asylum seekers.

Nigeria: Armed conflict in northeast Nigeria a continues to adversely affect the lives and prospects of 7.8 million people, 60 percent of them children. Some 3.5 million people are displaced inside the country, including 2.26 million IDPs in the Northeast, and 1,19 million IDPs in the Northwest and Northcentral.  Hundreds of thousands have been displaced due to banditry and armed violence, including farmer-herder violence. Humanitarian agencies warn that the ongoing crisis in northwest Nigeria is being neglected.

In the Sahel, an unprecedented food crisis is ongoing, driven by conflict, soaring prices of food in global markets, and a decline in agriculture production due to climate change, violence and displacement. Between October to December 2024, 35.6 million people in the Sahel were acutely food insecure (crisis level or worse), including 25 million in Nigeria, 3.1 million in Cameroon, 2.7 million in Burkina Faso, 1.5 million in Niger, 2.4 million in Chad, and 900,000 in Mali.

From June to August 2025 - the lean season - a staggering 45.9 million people in the six most affected Sahel countries are estimated to be acutely food insecure (crisis level or worse), including 33.1 million in Nigeria, 2.7 million in Cameroon, 2.7 million in Burkina Faso, 1.5 million in Mali, 2.2 million in Niger and 3.7 million in Chad.

Currently an estimated 11.3 million children under the age of five are acutely malnourished or are expected to suffer from acute malnutrition in the six Sahel countries.

The United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) has warned that children in the region could die in devastating numbers unless urgent support is provided, as severe malnutrition and the risk of water-borne disease collide. In Burkina Faso, Chad, Mali, Niger and Nigeria, drought and conflict are driving water insecurity, with 40 million children facing high to extremely high levels of water vulnerability. 

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), more children die as a result of unsafe water and sanitation in the Sahel than in any other part of the world.

Since August 2024, persistent heavy rains and severe flooding ravaged several countries in the Sahel, affecting some 6 million people, displacing nearly one million people, and causing more than 1,500 deaths. The extreme weather exacerbated the ongoing humanitarian crises in Chad, Niger, Nigeria, Cameroon, Mali and Burkina Faso.

Torrential rains and flooding inundated large swathes of land, destroying homes, public health facilities, water systems, schools and sanitation facilities, as well as roads, infrastructure and farmland. In addition, the lack of access to water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) services increased the risk of spreading waterborne diseases. Aid agencies are urgently calling for increased international support to reach the most vulnerable.

Last year's extreme flooding comes after devastating floods in the Sahel and neighboring regions in 2022 increased the needs of millions of people. In Nigeria, Chad, Niger, Burkina Faso, Mali and Cameroon, above-average rainfall and flooding killed hundreds, displaced thousands and affected millions.

Without sufficient resources for humanitarian response, the Sahel crisis risks further escalating and putting even more millions of children, women and men at risk. As always, women and children are bearing the brunt of this crisis. 

The UN and its partners have asked for US$4.67 billion in 2025 to assist 21.3 million of the most vulnerable people in Burkina Faso, Cameroon's Far North region, Chad, Mali, Niger and Nigeria's Adamawa, Borno and Yobe states.  

In 2024, aid agencies needed US$4.7 billion to help 21 million of the most vulnerable people in Burkina Faso, Cameroon's Far North region, Chad, Mali, Niger and Nigeria's Adamawa, Borno and Yobe states.  As of July 2024, only 25 percent of the funding had been received. 

According to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) , humanitarian agencies provided life-saving assistance and protection services to more than 15.6 million people across the Sahel in 2023. However, humanitarian response plans for the six Sahel countries received only 41 percent of the funding needed, leaving millions without vital assistance.

The security situation

The Sahel is one of the most conflict-ridden regions in the world. Deteriorating security is exacerbated by increasingly extreme climate-related weather events, deep poverty, and unprecedented levels of food insecurity and malnutrition. Violence and armed conflict are the main drivers of humanitarian needs in the region. Amid instability caused by military coups and conflicts fueled by non-state armed groups, the region's populations face enormous challenges.

Over the past decade, the Sahel has experienced increasingly violent armed conflict, with the rapid emergence of extremist groups such as Al-Qaeda, Islamic State, and Boko Haram. The rise of non-state armed groups (NSAGs) has fueled intercommunal violence that has killed thousands. Intense and indiscriminate violence has forced millions to flee across the Sahel, both within countries and across borders.

The two subregions of greatest concern are the Liptako Gourma region - also known as the tri-border area, which encompasses contiguous areas in northern Burkina Faso, southern and central Mali, and southwestern Niger - and the Lake Chad Basin - an area that includes parts of Cameroon, Chad, Niger, and Nigeria.  Attacks on civilians and infrastructure, as well as conflicts between state and non-state armed groups, have led to massive population displacement in Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Chad, Mali, Niger and Nigeria.

Displaced people are most often cut off from their fields and pastures, making it impossible to grow crops that are essential for food security. In addition, climate shocks - most notably last year's deadly floods that affected six million people - are claiming lives, destroying livelihoods and disrupting agricultural productivity.

Liptako Gourma region

The Central Sahel region is facing one of the fastest growing - and most forgotten - humanitarian crises in the world. Armed conflict, deteriorating security, political instability and widespread poverty are the main drivers of unprecedented humanitarian needs. Security incidents, attacks and abductions are a daily reality for millions of civilians and humanitarian workers in the field.

Escalating militant Islamist violence in Burkina Faso, particularly against civilians, continues to drive people from their homes. Violence associated with Islamist militant groups, particularly the Macina Liberation Front and the Islamic State of the Greater Sahara (ISGS), is projected to increase in 2025.

The security situation in Burkina Faso deteriorated following two military coups in January and September 2022. Across the country, more than 1 million people live in areas blockaded by armed groups, where they lack access to even basic services. The situation has become increasingly dire, with some people forced to eat leaves to survive.  Non-state armed groups control nearly 40 percent of Burkina Faso's territory.

These patterns are repeated in Burkina Faso's neighbors, Mali and Niger. Mali experienced another military takeover in May 2021. Some 380,000 people are currently internally displaced in Mali. In addition, the Central Sahel state hosts more than 123,000 refugees, most of whom have fled insecurity in neighboring countries. Some 200,000 Malian refugees are hosted by neighboring countries, including Mauritania, Niger, and Burkina Faso.

In Niger, the presidential guard staged a coup in July 2023, installing a general as ruler. Violence by organized armed groups in the Liptako Gourma region endangers civilians, prevents affected populations from accessing vital services, restricts humanitarian access, and exacerbates food insecurity.

Security incidents, attacks and abductions are a daily reality for millions of civilians and humanitarian workers on the ground. Attacks on civilians and infrastructure, as well as clashes between state and non-state armed groups, have led to massive displacement.

Conflict is spreading throughout the region and even into coastal countries, with the risk of instability spreading to new and previously stable areas. West African coastal countries are witnessing the growing humanitarian consequences of the spillover of the Sahel crisis. 

Lake Chad Basin

The Lake Chad Basin - covering parts of Cameroon, Chad, Niger and Nigeria - remains one of the most fragile regions in the world. It is affected by a combination of protracted humanitarian crises caused by conflict and exacerbated by other factors such as food insecurity, chronic malnutrition, natural hazards, limited state presence, rapid demographic growth and the increasing impact of climate change.

Despite the continued decline in reported security incidents, the population of the Lake Chad Basin continues to be affected by violence, conflict and insecurity. Vulnerable populations in the region continue to face severe food insecurity and malnutrition, while access to basic services has deteriorated.

However, security conditions have also deteriorated in some parts of the Lake Chad Basin, as organized armed groups continue to attack civilians, particularly in the Far North region of Cameroon and northeastern Nigeria. Increased gang violence has also been reported in northwestern Nigeria, where the food situation is deteriorating.

Some improvements have been recorded thanks to the joint efforts of local and national governments and civil society organizations, supported by the international community. Despite the progress made, the Lake Chad Basin region continues to face a protracted and complex crisis caused by extreme poverty, climate change, ongoing violent conflict and lack of social services.

In the Lake Chad Basin crisis area, more than 10.2 million people are in need of humanitarian assistance and some 3.2 million are currently displaced. As of January 2025, there were a total of 2.9 million internally displaced persons (IDPs) in the region, including 2.3 million in Nigeria, and over 266,000 refugees. Some 4.9 million people in the region are acutely food insecure.

Donations

Your donation for the Sahel emergency can help United Nations agencies, international humanitarian non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and their local partners to rapidly provide water, food, medicine, shelter and other aid to the people who need it most.

Currently, many NGOs are appealing for the global hunger crisis. You may also consider making an unearmarked donation or a broader earmarked donation.

To find other organizations to which you can donate, visit: Humanitarian Crisis Relief, Refugees and IDPs, Children in Need, Hunger and Food Insecurity, Medical Humanitarian Aid, Vulnerable Groups, Faith-Based Humanitarian Organizations, and Human Rights Organizations.

Further information

Last updated: 04/03/2025

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