The inhabitants of the town of Sebba, capital of the province of Yagha, in the north of Burkina Faso, subjected to a "
blockade
" of jihadist groups for a month, have raised a cry of alarm, saying they are threatened with famine. , confirmed by an NGO.
"
The axis that connects this city to Dori
", the capital of the Sahel region where Sebba is located, "
is cut and the population finds itself today in a situation where it is increasingly isolated
", said Doctors Without Borders (MSF) project manager in Burkina, Ulrich Crépin Namfeibona.
“People feel abandoned”
According to him, "
there is a crying lack of food, people eat leaves, every day
".
"
If really nothing is done to give food to this population, in the days to come, we could witness a disaster, a nutritional crisis that will hit children much harder
," he added.
Some 30,000 people, including many displaced people, currently live in Sebba.
Questioned by AFP, Abdoulaye Ly, a resident of Sebba, estimated that "
the food situation is critical
".
"
Alerts have been issued, but so far we can't see the end of the tunnel
" and "
legitimately, the population feels abandoned
".
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Traders had organized themselves to supply the locality, but a convoy of 14 trucks remained blocked in Dori following the sabotage of a bridge on the axis linking Dori to Sebba, explained Abdoulaye Ly.
Residents had tried to rehabilitate the damaged Sebba bridge on June 25, but another sabotage on July 26 completely destroyed it, cutting the town off from the rest of the country.
Frequent jihadist attacks
“
If this axis is not rehabilitated, it is the whole province, of which Sebba is the gateway, which is isolated.
It is therefore vital for the whole province, with localities such as Solhan and Mansila which are also suffering martyrdom
,” noted Mohamed Dicko, another resident of Sebba.
The Association of Nationals of Yagha (Ary) called for "
rapid action to avoid a humanitarian catastrophe
".
“
We must quickly allow access to the city of Sebba for the supply of fuel, food and other basic necessities
”, indicates a note from Ary.
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Attacks attributed to jihadists are frequent in the province of Yagha, where the inhabitants of localities driven out by jihadist groups have taken refuge in Sebba.
Burkina Faso, where soldiers took power in January promising to make the fight against jihadists their priority, is confronted like several neighboring countries with the violence of armed jihadist movements affiliated with Al-Qaeda and the Islamic State group, who since 2015 have caused thousands of deaths and some two million displaced people.
More than 40% of Burkina's territory is outside state control, according to official figures, and attacks have increased since the start of the year.