16,000 Ivorian refugees arrive in Mali

Bamako, Mali (PANA) - Some 16,914 refugees, fleeing from the post-election crisis in Cote d'Ivoire, arrived in Zegoua, a border town in Mali, between 18 and 31 March, the Malian Press Agency (AMAP) reported.

Seven hundred of the refugees, who are mainly from Mali, Senegal, Guinea, Mauritania, Côte d’Ivoire, Burkina Faso, Niger, Ghana, Gambia, Togo, Cameroon, Central Africa Republic, Liberia and Guinea-Bissau, are children.

The press agency said the Malian director of Civil Protection, Col. Mamadou Traore, as well as officials from UNICEF and UNHCR, have visited the district of Kadiolo, where Zegoua is situated, to evaluate the arrangements made to receive the refugees.

Since the outbreak of fighting in Côte d’Ivoire, thousands of people have crossed the border to seek refuge in Mali through the district of Kadiolo.
-0- PANA WG/ASA/JEN/SEG 5April2011