UNITED NATIONS, Feb. 23 (Xinhua) -- Violence spreading to central Mali leads to more displacement of people and the need to increase the aid program to 563 million U.S. dollars to reach 4.7 million people, UN humanitarians said on Tuesday.
"That is 1.1 million people more than last year," said the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA). "The plan aims to save lives, offer protection to those affected by the crisis, and strengthen their resilience."
In 2020, violence and insecurity spread from the north to the central regions and across the border into Niger and Burkina Faso, OCHA said in a release. Growing instability has led to a new surge in internal displacement. More than 330,000 people are displaced within the country, four times more than in early 2019.
Mbaranga Gasarabwe, the humanitarian coordinator for Mali, urges contributors to meet affected communities' needs. She stressed the importance of increasing funding and having timely financial contributions to assist populations in need and strengthen their resilience to shocks.
While contributions reached only 48 percent of the 2020 goal of 474.3 million U.S. dollars, the humanitarian partners reached 2.6 million people with aid by the end of the year. Enditem
