Catholic Relief Agency to Ship Emergency Aid to 30,000 in Guinea-Bissau

Urgent aid is being brought to some 30,000 people in the towns of Varela and Suzana, where recent fighting across Guinea-Bissau's northern border with Senegal have left local populations completely cut-off, report Caritas Guinea-Bissau.

|TOP|Caritas report that over recent weeks, Guinea-Bissau’s military has launched heavy attacks around the town of Sao Domingos. In this region rebels from Senegal’s Casamance region recently spilled over the border to flee an onslaught from Senegalese troops. It is reported that both sides have now laid down mines across the area to fortify their positions.

In total, up to 11,000 people have fled from Sao Domingos to Suzana and Varela, where they have joined 21,000 locals being fenced in by the Senegalese border to the north, the river to the south, and the fighting and landmines to the east.

Father Jose Fumagalli, head of the Catholic mission in Suzana has said, “The people feel completely abandoned, especially since for the entire month since conflict erupted, not one state or local official has appeared to explain what is happening or to protect the local populations,” according to Caritas.

Fumagalli told how the displaced are being housed by local families that have taken pity on them. However, food supplies among other essential equipment such as medical provisions are nearly exhausted.

|AD|He continued, “People are starting to want to get up and leave. The road hasn’t been closed officially, but we know it’s been mined.”

Caritas Guinea-Bissau has said that it needs to offer emergency supplies to approximately 8,500 people with basic relief items including food, clothes, medicine among many other items.

A fleet of canoes will be needed to transport the supplies to the isolated areas via the river. In addition, Caritas has said it will also “provide transport for local products to market areas so that the economy doesn’t come to a complete standstill”.

Father Fumagalli has also said, “People here are already at subsistence level, and they need to sell their products, such as palm wine, cashews and smoked fish, in order to scrape by. Prices are already going up due to their isolation.”

Caritas Internationalis is a confederation of 162 Catholic relief, development, and social service organisations present in over 200 countries and territories.