25 Jan 2013

GENEVA / MALI

People fleeing the conflict in Mali are bringing with them "worrying" accounts of conditions in the north, the UN refugee agency UNHCR said today, as it renewed its appeal for an urgent scaling up of international aid for the hundreds of thousands of people now displaced by the war. CH UNTV

Posted at: January 25, 2013 12:25 pm

Duration: 02:33

Available in: SD

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STORY: GENEVA / MALI
TRT: 2.33
SOURCE: CH UNTV
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH / NATS

DATELINE: 25 JANUARY 2013, GENEVA, SWITZERLAND / FILE

SHOTLIST:

FILE – RECENT, GENEVA, SWITZERLAND

1. Wide shot, exterior, Palais des Nations

25 JANUARY 2013, GENEVA, SWITZERLAND

2. Wide shot, press room
3. SOUNDBITE (English) Melissa Fleming, Chief Spokesperson, UNHCR: 
"We are renewing our appeal for an urgent scaling up of international aid for the hundreds and thousands of people now displaced by the war in Mali. This is to prevent a worsening of a now already very acute fragile humanitarian situation across the Sahel."
4. Med shot, group of journalists
5. SOUNDBITE (English) Melissa Fleming, Chief Spokesperson, UNHCR: 
"Since the start of the conflict over a year ago, the cumulative figure is now more than 150,000 refugees, those who have fled to neighbouring countries, and inside Mali internally displaced people number at 230,000. In Bamako, we now have a number close to 50,000 people who have taken refuge in the capital. They are in very poor neighbourhoods with little or no access to clean water, education and health."
6. Med shot, journalist
7. SOUNDBITE (English) Melissa Fleming, Chief Spokesperson, UNHCR:
"What really is worrying us is the accounts that we are hearing from the internally displaced and from refugees. A former resident of Gao for example, who left the town, after recent airstrikes, told us that all the food and the fuel are in very short supply. They say that rebels have stripped the city hospitals of medicines, and at the hospital, dead bodies are said to be everywhere. Wounded fighters are being brought into the cities, and among the fighters are many foreigners, they say. The person we spoke to also said that they had seen a woman being executed summarily for refusing to show the contents of her bag to a rebel fighter as she tried to board the bus. Amputations of hands and feet are being used as punishments."
8. Med shot, three journalists
9. SOUNDBITE (English) Ms. Melissa Fleming, Chief Spokesperson, UNHCR: 
"Since the French military intervened on 11th January, we have 9000 new refugees who have fled to the neighbouring countries."
10. Wide shot, journalists

STORYLINE:

People fleeing the conflict in Mali are bringing with them "worrying" accounts of conditions in the north, the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) said today, as it renewed its appeal for an urgent scaling up of international aid for the hundreds of thousands of people now displaced by the war.

Speaking to journalists at a briefing in Geneva, UNHCR Spokesperson, Melissa Fleming, said that since the start of the conflict in northern Mali a year ago, more than 150,000 refugees have fled to neighbouring Mauritania, Niger and Burkina Faso, while nearly 230,000 have sought safety in other areas inside Mali.

In Bamako, Mali's capital, the number of internally displaced people is now estimated at close to 50,000. They are in poor neighbourhoods with little or no access to housing or vital services such as clean water, education and health.

Fleming said that "what really is worrying us is the accounts that we are hearing from the internally displaced and from refugees. They say that rebels have stripped the city hospitals of medicines, and at the hospital, dead bodies are said to be everywhere. Amputations of hands and feet are being used as punishments."

According to UNHCR's latest registration figures, over 9,000 new refugees have fled the country since 11 January, when the French military intervened to help the Malian army stop an offensive by extremist fighters.