Number of displaced swell amid jihadi violence
AMI SANA hangs a tattered tarp for a bit of shade, where she can rest on a break from pounding stones under the scorching sun.
“The work is hard. It makes my body weak, but what else can I do?” she asked.
The mother of six is one of two million people displaced by Burkina Faso’s rapidly rising Islamic extremist violence, according to the UN.
Amid the clamour of clanging pickaxes and falling rocks, Sana has found work in the Pissy granite mine on the outskirts of Burkina Faso’s capital, Ouagadougou.
Lifting heavy rocks and hammering them into gravel to sell to construction companies is tough work that doesn’t earn her enough to adequately feed or educate her children, Sana said. But it’s the best work that she could find.
The rush of civilians from rural villages plagued by extremist violence has put pressure on Burkina Faso’s cities.
“Some of the host cities have doubled or tripled in size in the past three years, and their infrastructures are often stretched to a breaking point,” said Hassane Hamadou, country director for the Norwegian Refugee Council.
“Schools can’t absorb all the new children, water points can’t provide enough for all. Hundreds of thousands are left without access to an education, clean water or healthcare as a result,” he said.
The influx of displaced people is causing competition among the approximately 3,000 people working at the granite mine. At least 500 displaced people started working at the mine last year, making it harder for the original miners to earn a living, said Abiba Tiemtore, head of the site.
“With more people, it’s hard to collect as many rocks and it’s impacting our daily income,” she said.
Miners who used to make approximately $1 a day say they are now lucky if they make 80 cents.
When it seized power in January, Burkina Faso’s ruling junta vowed to stamp out extremist violence, but it has done little about the swelling numbers of displaced.