Madar (Bamako) - More than 40,000 people expelled from gold-mining sites in Guinea have been registered at the Malian border town of Kouremale, and thousands have already reached Bamako, Mali's Prime Minister's office said, describing the situation as a "real humanitarian catastrophe".
According to a statement published by the Prime Minister's office, the Prime Minister and head of government visited the Mamarybougou and Ouenzenbougou sites, which are hosting these "citizens of the AES confederation", immediately after a meeting of the interministerial committee for crisis and disaster management. He was accompanied by the minister of security and civil protection and the minister of health and social development.
A meeting held after the visit produced recommendations, including contacting the Guinean authorities "to understand what happened" and drawing up a framework to gather the expelled people at a single site, Ouenzenbougou, the statement said. The Prime Minister commended those involved and urged them to plan ahead. The visit ended with a working session at the Prime Minister's office.
The interministerial crisis and disaster committee had met on Thursday, 5 November, under the Prime Minister's chairmanship, with a single item on its agenda: the "massive arrival" of Burkinabe nationals on Malian territory after their expulsion from gold-mining sites in Guinea, according to another statement from the Prime Minister's office.
The government activated its crisis-management mechanisms, and the measures taken focus mainly on reception and humanitarian assistance, identification and referral, securing travel and the "forthcoming transport" of those expelled to their country, the statement said, adding that Mali "has therefore chosen solidarity" in line with the AES motto "One Space, One People, One Destiny".
