16,000 people flee to neighboring countries to escape violence

Since the outbreak of the Tuareg conflict in Mali three weeks ago, more than 16,000 people have fled to the neighboring countries of Niger, Mauritania and Burkina Faso. Just since last Friday more than 4,000 new refugees arrived in Mauritania seeking asylum, reported the Society for Threatened Peoples (STP) on Monday in Göttingen. "Primarily women and children are fleeing from the battles between Tuareg rebels and regular soldiers, as well as from attacks perpetrated by the battling factions," said the Ulrich Delius of the STP's Africa section. Among the refugees are many Tuareg, as well as members of other ethnic groups living the cities of northern Mali. 

Among the new arrivals in Mauritania are more than 1,450 children under five years of age. Furthermore, some 80 pregnant women last weekend sought safety in the border town of Fassala Néré, 1,260 kilometers east of the Mauritanian capital, Nouakchott. "These refugees urgently need more humanitarian aid. The local facilities are overwhelmed by the numbers of refugees seeking help," explained Delius.

While refugees arriving in Mauritania report of attacks by soldiers on Tuareg, members of many other ethnic groups are seeking asylum in Niger after fleeing attacks on their cities by Tuareg rebels. Almost 10,000 refugees from northern Mali have sought safety in the neighboring country of Niger in the past two weeks. Several hundred Tuareg refugees have already arrived in nearby Burkina Faso as well.

"The exodus of the civilian population from northern Mali will be increasing, as no end of the armed conflicts in sight," warned Delius. The Malian army reported heavy fighting with the Tuareg liberation organization, "National Movement for Liberation of Azawad" (MNLA), claiming that 20 Tuareg militants were killed last Friday and Saturday, while the MNLA claims to have driven out government soldiers from other strategically significant positions in northern Mali. Due to the dangerous situation, independent investigations to verify these reports cannot be conducted.

The Malian government is determined to bring about a military defeat of the MNLA. But last weekend, the chairpersons of the country's five main political parties called upon the government to engage in dialog with the Tuareg and seek a political resolution of the conflict.