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STORY: GENEVA / MALI
TRT: 1.22
SOURCE: CH UNTV
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH / NATS
DATELINE: 1 MARCH 2013, GENEVA, SWITZERLAND / FILE
FILE – RECENT, GENEVA, SWITZERLAND
1. Wide shot, Palais des Nations
1 MARCH 2013, GENEVA, SWITZERLAND
2. Wide shot, dais
3. SOUNDBITE (English) Adrian Edwards, Spokesperson for the UN Refugee
Agency, UNHCR:
"For IDPs and refugees alike the primary worry remains insecurity. Continued fighting, suicide attacks, reprisal attacks against some communities, the presence of mines and unexploded ordinance in the regions of Mopti, Gao, and Timbuktu, are all cited as reasons to delay returning. However, the absence of services in the north is very clearly also a factor. Few schools are functioning there; Government authorities still absent in many towns and cities, and many displaced families prefer to wait."
4. Med shot, table of journalists
5. SOUNDBITE (English) Adrian Edwards, Spokesperson for the UN Refugee
Agency, UNHCR:
"For those outside Mali, an additional complication is the ethnic make-up, as a majority of the refugees are Tuareg or Arab. Fear of reprisal attacks is widespread, as is the fear of criminality or that jihadists might remain present in the community."
6. Med shot, dais
7. SOUNDBITE (English) Adrian Edwards, Spokesperson for the UN Refugee
Agency, UNHCR:
"While new refugee numbers are substantially down on the numbers of a few weeks ago, Mali is nonetheless continuing to see a net refugee outflow, albeit a modest one. During February, average arrivals in Mauritania were over 1,500 people a week. Refugee numbers in Burkina and Niger are static."
8. Wide shot, press room
The United Nations Refugee Agency, UNHCR, said today (1 March) that insecurity remains the primary concern among Malian refugees and internally displaced people.
Almost two months since the French intervention in Mali UNHCR is continuing to see large numbers of internally displaced people; while in neighbouring countries the numbers of refugees are still high and in some cases increasing.
UNHCR spokesperson, Adrian Edwards, said that despite improvements to the security situation in some areas the fear of returning home remains widespread.
Edwards also said that the absence of services in the north was another factor as few schools were functioning “and government authorities still absent in many towns and cities."
The spokesperson pointed outt hat for those outside Mali, an additional complication was the ethnic make-up, as a majority of the refugees are Tuareg or Arab and he added “fear of reprisal attacks is widespread, as is the fear of criminality or that
jihadists might remain present in the community".
Northern Mali was occupied by radical Islamists after fighting broke out in January 2012 between Government forces and Tuareg rebels. The conflict prompted the Malian Government to request assistance from France to stop the military advance of extremist groups.
According to UNHCR estimates, some 430,000 people have been uprooted by the crisis. Of those, more than 260,000 are internally displaced and over 170,000 have fled as refugees to neighbouring countries.
