The 2024 Humanitarian Response Plan for Mali was launched this week in Bamako, the capital of the country. The United Nations, along with humanitarian partner organizations, will need over US$700 million to assist more than 4.1 million people across the Sahel country in 2024, UN officials announced on Thursday. An estimated 7.1 million people in Mali require humanitarian assistance this year, among them are some 3.8 million children.
According to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), the humanitarian situation in Mali continues to be marked by a complex crisis rooted in a volatile security situation, exacerbated by structural vulnerabilities, socio-economic challenges and climate change. The situation is particularly severe in conflict-affected areas to the north and center of Mali, where access constraints and forced displacement aggravate vulnerability.
Mali is experiencing severe humanitarian needs. Nearly 30 percent of the population are projected to be in need of humanitarian assistance in 2024. Some 715,000 people across Mali are currently affected by crisis or worse levels of hunger, and 2.8 million face stress levels of food insecurity. In the course of 2024, 1.3 million people are expected to slip into acute food insecurity (crisis level or worse).
While additional funding is urgently needed, aid agencies say humanitarian aid is not the solution to the challenges facing Mali. The UN continues to emphasize the need to maintain development assistance, as well as social cohesion programs, to help communities keep moving forward and to avoid further increases in humanitarian needs.
Mali is a landlocked country in the Central Sahel region, with nearly half of the highly dispersed population living in extreme poverty. The country ranks at the bottom of the Human Development Index (HDI). Since 2012, conflict, insecurity, and climatic shocks - including drought and seasonal floods - have generated displacement, food insecurity, and widespread humanitarian needs throughout Mali.
Since 2022, hostilities have intensified across the country after Malian forces launched large-scale operations against Jamaa Nusrat al-Islam wal-Muslimin (JNIM), which is affiliated with al-Qaeda, and the rival Islamic State in the Greater Sahara (ISGS). Both Islamist non-state armed groups (NSAGs) have frequently carried out attacks on civilian populations.
Security incidents, attacks and kidnappings are a daily reality for millions of civilians and humanitarian workers in the field. Attacks on civilians and infrastructure and conflict between the state and non-state armed groups have led to massive population displacement.
Approximately 392,000 people are currently internally displaced in Mali. In addition, the Central Sahel state hosts more than 66,000 refugees, the majority of whom fled insecurity in bordering countries. Some 200,000 Malian refugees are hosted in neighboring states, including Mauritania, Niger, and Burkina Faso.
The Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) identifies the situation in Mali as one of the most neglected displacement crises globally. According to CARE International, the situation in Mali is among the world's forgotten crises that received the least media attention last year. Mali has also made it on the Emergency Watchlist 2024, released by the International Rescue Committee (IRC).
An estimated 7.1 million people in the country are in need of humanitarian assistance and protection this year. Among them are 3.8 million children and 1.6 million women. Despite the urgent situation, humanitarian appeals for Mali continue to be severely underfunded. Last year, just 30 percent of the US $751.4 million required by the United Nations Humanitarian Response Plan for Mali were raised. Nonetheless, aid agencies assisted at least 1.8 million people across the country in 2023.
The plight of the people in Mali is part of a wider regional emergency in the Central Sahel, which also includes Burkina Faso and Niger. Armed conflict, deteriorating security, political instability, and widespread poverty are the main drivers of humanitarian needs in the central Sahel region. This deteriorating humanitarian emergency in the region is further compounded by global food insecurity and the impact of the climate crisis. Rapid climate changes are causing natural disasters to occur with increasing frequency and severity.
Mali witnessed another military takeover of power in May 2021. In Burkina Faso, the security situation worsened following two military coups in January and September 2022. In Niger, the presidential guard staged a coup in July 2023 and installed a general as ruler. On Sunday, the military juntas in Mali, Burkina Faso, and Niger announced their withdrawal from the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), a move that further adds to the instability in the region.
In another development, Mali’s military rulers announced Friday the end of a 2015 peace agreement with Tuareg separatist rebels in the country’s north, raising fears of increased fighting between mainly ethnic Tuareg armed groups from northern Mali and government forces, following the UN withdrawal last year.
The departure of the UN peacekeeping mission in Mali (MINUSMA) was completed by December 31, 2023, at the request of the junta, and has impacted conflict dynamics and resulted in fresh hostilities. According to human rights groups, there has been a surge in attacks by non-state armed groups across Mali in recent months.