The United Nations refugee agency has deployed staff to assist some 20,000 people who have been forced to flee fighting between Government troops and rebel Tuareg groups in Mali.

Most of those uprooted by the violence in the Azawad region of northern Mali that began in mid-January have fled to Niger, Burkina Faso and Mauritania, according to the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).

The agency said fighting between the Tuareg liberation movement MNLA (Mouvement National de Liberation de l'Azawad) and Government forces resumed on 17 January, breaking a 2009 agreement that had officially ended the Tuareg rebellion.

“In the past three weeks, at least 10,000 people are reported to have crossed to Niger, 9,000 have found refuge in Mauritania and 3,000 in Burkina Faso,” agency spokesperson Adrian Edwards told reporters in Geneva today.

Some of those who crossed into Niger have settled very close to the volatile border, he said. Many of the new arrivals are sleeping in the open and have little access to shelter, clean water, health services, and food.

While most of those who recently fled Mali are Malians, recent arrivals in Niger also include nationals of Niger who had been living in Mali for decades, Mr. Edwards noted. Many have been crossing the border between the two countries regularly to find grazing land for their cattle.

UNHCR is planning to send aid for 10,000 people from its stockpiles in the region, as well as additional staff to assist the displaced.

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