BRUSSELS – The European Union (EU) on Thursday released an additional five million euros for humanitarian assistance to Malians affected by famine and violence in the northern part of the country.
Kristalina Georgieva, EU Commissioner in-charge of the Emergency Humanitarian Assistance, said in Brussels that the funds were released to help the displaced populations in the interior of the country.
She said that it would also benefit more than 140,000 Malian refugees, who fled into neighbouring countries, which includes Burkina Faso, Mauritania and Niger. [eap_ad_2] Georgieva said that the funds must be used to provide food products to at least one million people, including the farmers who had lost their livestock because of the long period of drought.
She said that the newly displaced persons would also be supplied with drinking water and other sanitary facilities in the sites where they were located.
Georgieva said that part of the money would also be used to finance the shipment by air for humanitarian assistance by the NGO partners of the EU.
She said that since the beginning of the Malian crisis, the EU had released a total of 178 million euros for humanitarian assistance to the West African country. (PANA/NAN)[eap_ad_3]
