Secretary-General Visits Ouallam Refugee Camp in Niger

A view of refugees in the Ouallam refugee camp in northern Niger. Secretary-General António Guterres visited the camp during his trip to Niger.

Ouallam and two other neighbouring districts in the area currently shelter some 28,000 people who have fled their homes because of violence, including terrorist acts, in the volatile wider Sahel region of Africa. Around 8,000 have left as refugees from neighbouring Mali to the north and another 20,000 have been displaced from 18 nearby villages and towns. Ouallam and its surrounding districts is a microcosm of the challenges facing Niger, where, according to the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR), some 264,000 Nigeriens are internally displaced due to a series of factors including deteriorating security and the effects of changing climatic conditions as well as overgrazing and deforestation.