OCHA: 24.3 Million in Sahel Need Aid as Terrorism Deaths Hit Global Peak and Armed Groups Expand

The Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs published the 2026 Humanitarian Needs and Response Overview for the Sahel on June 3. 3 million people across Chad, Mali, Niger, Burkina Faso, Northeast Nigeria, and the Far North of Cameroon require humanitarian assistance. 5 million children in the central Sahel are among those in need.

The United Nations Regional Information Centre for Western Europe states that the majority of terrorism-related murders worldwide occur in the Sahel. OCHA recorded a sharp rise in civilian exploitation, economic disruption, and community displacement throughout 2025.

The central Sahel now hosts nearly three million internally displaced persons, with Burkina Faso accounting for roughly two million, Niger 548,000, and Mali 415,000.

An additional one million refugees from the Sahel have been recorded in neighboring countries. 6 million people have been forcibly displaced by violence in 2026. In late April, large-scale attacks struck multiple municipalities in Mali, including the capital Bamako, causing civilian casualties and further displacement.

Subsequent clashes between Malian police and armed groups followed in the days after. The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights documented numerous allegations of extrajudicial killings and abductions tied to these incidents. In May, Malian politician and lawyer Mountaga Tall was abducted from his home and his wife was assaulted.

Their whereabouts, along with those of other abduction victims, remain unknown. On May 6, the UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination reported a significant increase in human rights violations against the Fulani ethnic group in Burkina Faso.