MALIAN ELECTIONS / MAURITANIA AND BURKINA FASO

The Mbera camp in Mauritania hosts more than 74,000 Malian refugees, around 8,400 were identified to take part in the presidential elections on 28 July, while Malians at the Goudoubo Camp in Burkina Faso also took part of the Sunday elections. UNHCR

• Categories: News & Features / News Stories / Unifeed
• Production Date: 29 July 2013
• Asset Language: Original
• Corporate Name: UNITED NATIONS HIGH COMMISSIONER FOR REFUGEES - UNHCR
• Subject Topical: REFUGEES; DISPLACED PERSONS; ELECTIONS
• Geographic Subject: BURKINA FASO; MALI; MALI; MAURITANIA
• MAMS Id: U130729g

Description

STORY: MALIAN ELECTIONS / MAURITANIA AND BURKINA FASO
TRT: 2.44
SOURCE: UNHCR
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: FRENCH / ARABIC / NATS

DATELINE: 25 JULY 2013, MBERA CAMP, MAURITANIA / 28 JULY 2013, GOUDOUBO CAMP, BURKINA FASO

Shotlist

28 JULY 2013, GOUDOUBO CAMP, BURKINA FASO

1. Wide shot, camp
2. Tracking shot, Malian refugee Jarrou Ag Ahmed looks at voters list
3. SOUNDBITE (French) Jarrou Ag Ahmed, Malian Refugee :
“We feel that we want to have a president in our country. We have done some one year without having a president, so we suffered a lot. We want to have a president in order to have peace in our country.”
4. Close up, NINA card
5. Med shot, Jarrou with his NINA card
6. Pan left, Jarrou picks up his child and goes to see his wife and group of women
7. Med shot, women and children sitting near Jarrou’s home
8. Wide shot, refugee children playing with wheels
9. Wide shot, refugees queuing up to vote at polling station
10. Wide shot, electoral observers from the European Union at polling station
11. Med shot, Jarrou gives his NINA card for checking
12. Close up, candidates list
13. Med shot, Jarrou voting
14. Med shot, Mariam Walet Abouba, Jarrou’s wife, casting her ballot
15. Wide shot, polling station exterior

25 JULY 2013, MBERA CAMP, MAURITANIA

16. Wide shot, camp
17. Pan left, UNHCR staff member talking to family inside tent
18. Close up, Assidye Ag, head of household
19. Close up, Ag showing voter cards
20. SOUNDBITE (French) Assidye Ag, Malian Refugee:
“We received NINA voter cards through our communities who are back home.”
21. Travelling shot, tents
22. Med shot, UNHCR staff with a refugee
23. SOUNDBITE (French) Julien Sangtam, UNHCR Protection Officer:
"Not only we will have to receive these cards but we also need to distribute them to refugees. And all this must be done before Sunday”.
24. Pan left, polling station being built
25. SOUNDBITE (French) Charles Saleh, UNHCR Protection Officer :
“This is one of the centres that will host the elections. We are doing the final touches for the polling stations. We have all the equipment and will be able to complete the set up by today or tomorrow morning.”
26. Med shot, children staring at camera

Storyline

It is Sunday, voting day in Goudoubo Camp, Burkina Faso for an election in Mali.
There are just over 10,000 Malian refugees in this camp.

Jarrou Ag Ahmed is one of them. He fled Gossi, in northern Mali, with his wife and their nine children in January 2012.

He was determined to get his vote out.

SOUNDBITE (French) Jarrou Ag Ahmed, Malian Refugee:
“We feel that we want to have a president in our country. We have done some one year without having a president, so we suffered a lot. We want to have a president in order to have peace in our country.”

Jarrou’s name was on an electoral list and he was able to get the proper identity papers called NINA cards.

UNHCR’ helped inform the refugees about the electoral process.

The turnout was low, not all the refugees had the right documents and transportation to the polling station was limited.

Still Jarrou and his wife Mariam were very proud to have voted. They are hoping it will be step towards stability and a way home.

For now the situation remains precarious but hopeful.

Located in a remote area, Mbera camp in Mauritania hosts more than 74,000 Malian refugees.

Around 8,400 were identified to take part in the presidential elections on 28 July.

Two days before the elections, almost everything was ready to make sure refugees are able to vote. Except one crucial element: voters’ cards. Without these, people were not be able to vote. A very small number of refugees received their cards on time. Assidye Ag was one of them.

SOUNDBITE (French) Assidye Ag, Malian Refugee:
“We received NINA voter cards through our communities who are back home.”

Hundreds of cards were sent from Nouakchott to Bassikounou. But some 8,000 cards were yet to be delivered days before the vote.

SOUNDBITE (French) Julien Sangtam, UNHCR Protection Officer:
"Not only we will have to receive these cards but we also need to distribute them to refugees. And all this must be done before Sunday”.

Elections took place outside of the camp. Refugees voted in the city of Bassikounou, 45 minutes away by car. UNHCR and its partner the Lutheran World Federation were in charge of moving refugees from the camp to the city.

Two public schools in Bassikounou were rehabilitated to accommodate the polling stations. New structures were built up to serve as waiting areas and to keep voters in the shade.

SOUNDBITE (French) Charles Saleh, UNHCR Protection Officer:
"This is one of the centres that will host the elections. We are doing the final touches for the polling stations. We have all the equipment and will be able to complete the set up by today or tomorrow morning.”

There are 50,000 Malian refugees in Burkina Faso and a total of 174,000 including in Mauritania, Niger, Algeria.