Burkina Faso faces armed conflict, COVID-19 and floods

Fati Soré is one of the many displaced people in the Sahel, who fled to the city of Kaya in central Burkina Faso.

She came here with her children from Pensa, a village located some 90 kilometres away.

The region is in the grips of armed conflict.

“Before, we farmed our land and raised our livestock. We made a living,” she explains.

“We fled after the attacks on our village. The people who came after us were armed. They shot at us, and shot at us, and shot at us. That’s why we had to leave. Sadly, not all of us made it.”

Due to rising insecurity, large numbers of people seeking safety in towns and cities.

In Kaya, the local population of 130,000 has been swelled by the arrival of 100,000 displaced people, who are living in four temporary camps, some in makeshift shelters.

But the city is facing its own humanitarian and ecological crisis.

Growing insecurity has caused five health centres in the Kaya area to close their doors during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), in collaboration with the health authorities, opened its own centre in the city in response.

Health needs are now so great that the Kaya health facility is providing care to eight times the usual number of patients.

And 80 percent of the patients are displaced people.

But the country has faced another setback.

Burkina Faso was hit by heavy rains 10 days ago, affecting over 7,000 people, according to the authorities.

Kaya was also devastated by the floods, with 1,440 people affected, including 880 internally displaced people.