ECHO's videos
Mali refugees in Niger – 6 months on, but no solution in sight
17/08/2012 - Since April 2012, conflict has forced approximately 400.000 people from their homes in the north of Mali. Forty thousand of them have crossed into Niger where they are receiving aid in official refugee camps. However others, like those in this video, continue to fend for themselves with what little the drought-stricken planes of Niger can offer them to survive.
An added pressure on these already vulnerable people is cholera which has broken out across parts of both Niger and Mali since the arrival of the rainy season.
In a desperate situation with little hope in sight, they consider themselves lucky to at least have been able to leave; "The people we left behind have no resources. No money to pay for transport, no way to get out. It's not that they don't want to leave, it's that they don't have the means to leave".
ECHO has provided €19 million of humanitarian assistance to the 265.000 refugees who have left Mali and the estimated 150.000 still within the country.
Have a look at these videos from the UNHCR, our biggest partner in this operation, for more about the context of the Mali crisis.