By Victoria Ojeme, Abuja

The Parliament of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) has described the humanitarian situation in Mali resulting from the ongoing war as complex and worrying.

Since 2012, Mali has faced a volatile crisis as political armed groups, including ethnic-based movements, jihadist groups, and transnational criminal networks, fight for hegemony and the control of trafficking routes in the North.

Presenting their country’s report to the ECOWAS Parliament on behalf of the Malian delegation at the 2019 Second Ordinary Session of the parliament in Abuja on Friday, Hon. Fomba Fatima Niambali decried the said that as of 30th September 2019, the country had 138,900 refugees.

He said that “the asylum countries are Burkina Faso with 25,721 refugees, Mauritania 56,680 refugees, and Niger 56,499 refugees.”

ALSO READ: Yobe, Kogi APC Chairmen deny calling for Oshiomhole’s sack

According to the country report, the number of internally displaced persons in the country has almost doubled from 84,285 in February 2019. The number has now risen to 187,139 individuals.

“Accordingly, from March 1 to September 30, 2019, an increase of 102,854 was recorded, following the deterioration of the security situation in the center and north of the country. The displaced population is composed of 54% women, 46% men, 53% children under 18 years of age and 4% of people aged 60 and over,” the report states.

The situation as depicted in the report is most prevalent in the regions of Menaka, Mopti and Kidal regions of the country, recording the highest out-of-school rates among displaced children aged 6 to 15 years (92% in Kidal, 89% in Menaka and 87% in Mopti). Currently, there are 920 schools closed, and this situation is changing as a result of attacks in the various localities.

As a result, the vast majority of displaced households have lost their empowerment and live on humanitarian aid and community or third party assistance. Government authorities, the Civil Protection, the Malian Red Cross, civil society organizations and UN agencies; UNICEF, UNHCR, IOM, and others are working together to assist these thousands of Refugees and internally displaced in need of immediate assistance such as hospitality, profiling, food, shelter, non-food assistance and health care.

In the bid to help salvage the situation, a parliamentary delegation led by the Speaker of the community Parliament visited and donated rice and oil to people in two sites for displaced people in the city of Sevare.

ALSO READ: Police arrest woman who poisoned 2-day-old granddaughter in Ogun

Members of the ECOWAS Parliament in their contributions to the report unanimously condemned the increasing tension in Mali and called on the ECOWAS and other international bodies such as the UN to help resolve the growing problems in the country.

Meanwhile, Mali has pledged to meet the three convergence criteria for the West Africa common currency in 2020, out of the six applicable to the West African Economic and Monetary Union.

The three criteria expected to be met include: One primary criterion, which is end period inflation rate and two secondary criteria including, (i) prohibition of the accumulation of new arrears and settlement of all outstanding arrears, and (ii) internally funded public investment/tax revenue.

In 2001, ECOWAS set up The West African Monetary Institute (WAMI) in Accra, Ghana to undertake technical preparations and monitoring of quantitative convergence criteria for the establishment of a common West African Central Bank.

The ECOWAS Commission, in collaboration with WAMI and WAMA, had set out ten macroeconomic convergence criteria for member States to comply with for the single currency to be implemented.

These are known as the Four Primary Convergence Criteria and the Six Secondary Convergence Criteria of quantitative and qualitative benchmarks. Domestication and compliance of the criteria have however not been simultaneous or on a sustainable basis in member States.

The initial date for the launch of the single currency was January, 2003. However, the launching has been postponed several times due to member States’ inability to fulfill the set macroeconomic convergence criteria. The next target for the creation of a single currency is 2020.

The report, however, explained that the noncompliance with the criteria relating to the wage bill/tax revenue as required by UEMOA and ECOWAS is largely attributable to the increase in retirement age and wage benefits and the salary benefits granted following negotiations with the labour partners.

Vanguard News