By Fatima Lô, Mauritanian Red Crescent, and Moustapha Diallo, IFRC
The village of Aghor, located in Bassikounou in the Hodh El Chargui region, south-east Mauritania, is a place where thousands of people who have fled the conflict in neighboring Mali have found refuge for over eleven months.
The makeshift camp is home to women, children, the elderly and entire families who are trying to rebuild their lives despite the difficulties and uncertainties they face daily, far from their places of origin. Living conditions are deplorable and access to basic services is very limited, exposing refugees to food insecurity and health risks.
In the midst of this community in search of stability and security, the Mauritanian Red Crescent was one of the first humanitarian organizations to intervene, by distributing cash and essential household items.
Marieme Mint Hamdinou and her family are among the 152,000 refugees living outside official camps in Hodh El Chargui region, without adequate shelter and basic services such as water, sanitation and healthcare. With cash received from Mauritania Red Cross, she was able to pay off some debts and buy food for her family. But there are still many unmet needs as people continue to arrive.
Photo: Fatma Lo/Mauritanian Red Crescent
The poignant story of a refugee women
It was in this camp that we met Marieme Mint Hamdinou, a 40-year-old mother of four, who shared her experiences as she gazed out at the horizon.
“We arrived here in November 2023. We left our village (Timbuktu in Mali) taking only what we could carry’, she says.
For Marieme and her family, the road to Mauritania was long and perilous, but faced with intensifying insecurity and armed clashes, they had no choice but to leave.
“When we arrived at Fassala, one of the entry points to Mauritania, we were exhausted, hungry and terrified”, Marieme points out.
With no money and no host family, Marieme and her children owed their salvation only to the generosity of humanitarian workers and the Mauritanian authorities, who took them in before settling them in Aghor. By then, the Mbera camp set up in 2012 to receive Malian refugees had reached saturation point.
“The first few weeks in the camp were particularly difficult. I felt powerless to meet some of my family's basic needs, such as eating, drinking, washing, proper accommodation, etc.’ explains Marieme. To survive, she had to beg and get into debt.
Some 152,000 refugees from Mali are living outside of official camps, without adequate shelter and access to other basic services such as water, sanitation and healthcare, as shown here in the makeshift camp of Aghor.
Photo: Fatma Lo/Mauritanian Red Crescent
Mauritanian Red Crescent support and ever-growing needs
The story of Marieme and her children is similar to that of many refugee women and families in Aghor. Thanks to a cash distribution operation by the Mauritanian Red Crescent, funded by the IFRC, many of them have been able to get back on their feet, even if only temporarily.
“With the money I received, I was able to pay off some of my debts and buy some food to feed my family, but there are so many unmet needs, and many families still haven't received any aid, not counting those who are still arriving,” says Marieme.
Since last year, Mauritania has witnessed a massive influx of Malian refugees fleeing the intensification of conflict and armed clashes in their country. On 30 September 2024, there were some 260,000 Malian refugees and over 12,000 returnees.
The Hodh El Chargui region, which has very limited resources, hosts most of them. Some 152,000 refugees are living outside the official camps, without adequate shelter and access to other basic services such as water, sanitation and healthcare, as in the makeshift camp of Aghor.
A volunteer with the Mauritanian Red Crescent prepares packages to be distributed to people from Mali who came to Mauritania to find safety from internal fighting in Mali.
Photo: Fatma Lo/Mauritanian Red Crescent
Since May, the Mauritanian Red Crescent's response has provided cash to around 1,000 people and distributed shelter kits, mats and mosquito nets to the most vulnerable displaced households. But this is far from enough as the humanitarian needs are still mounting.
In response to the continuing influx of refugees and their growing needs, the IFRC has launched an emergency appeal for 4 million Swiss francs to help the Mauritanian Red Crescent Society scale up its response.
The funds raised will be used to support 61,750 people through a holistic response, including the distribution of emergency shelter and essential household items, the provision of cash, water and health services and the implementation of protection strategies.
The funds will also enable the creation of humanitarian service points (HSPs) where people can access a wide range of services, such as safe water, nutrition support, emergency health and first aid, psychological support services (PSS) communication and referrals, regardless of their status.
The IFRC has also launched a separate emergency appeal to support the Malian Red Cross in its efforts to assist people displaced by violence as well as severe flooding.
