Thank you very much.
Good afternoon, everyone. It's a pleasure to be here.
I will make my comments in English, but I will be pleased to answer your questions in either official language.
Oxfam is present in over 90 countries in the world, and has been present in Mali for many years, Mali being one of the most vulnerable populations in the world as I'm sure you know. We follow the developments there closely, and we're concerned primarily with two things: that the swift escalation of fighting could heighten existing restrictions on humanitarian access, that is access for humanitarian actors such as the organizations you have here; and that it's going to increase the humanitarian needs of the population across the country and in neighbouring states.
I'll tell you a little bit about the situation in Gao in northern Mali. I'll give you details. Food is already quite scarce there. Stocks are likely to be depleted in a few weeks if the Algerian border remains closed and the roads to the south remain closed. Staple foods trade from the south of the country was severely disrupted over a year ago in October-November of 2011, and staple cereals such as millet have not been available in local markets for nearly a year. They've been replaced since early 2012 by rice, couscous, and wheat flour coming from Algeria. Oil and sugar are also imported from Algeria, but with the new fighting that is also disrupted. The main road to the south is closed, and the Algerian border is closed. There is very limited cross-border trade with Niger.
Many of the traders have fled the region with the advancing French troops. When they left, whatever stocks they had left were looted. Right now for the first time all of the major traders in Gao seem to have left the country.
In the main markets in Gao town three-quarters of the shops selling food are now closed. These shops supply rural markets in the area and are crucial for the survival of the rural population not just for the town, particularly for the herders, the pastoralist communities who are the vast majority of northern Mali's population outside of the main cities along the Niger River.
As is natural when food is scarce, food prices have risen by about 20% since the military intervention began in early January. Before the intervention a 50-kilogram bag of rice cost about $34 U.S. Two weeks later it rose to $41 U.S.
At the same time there is very little money around for people to buy these things. The banking system has been shut down since last year. Traditional methods of bringing cash into the country and to the northern part of the country, including remittances from family members, have all been disrupted. The herders whose only source of income is to sell their animals really have nothing to rely on.
Gao was already classified as one of the most food-insecure areas of Mali before the military intervention began. It's one of the areas with the highest rates of malnutrition. Malnutrition among children under five before the intervention was at 15.2%, which is the emergency threshold set by the World Health Organization. As we say, families mostly buy most of their food, but their income has been disrupted, and their coping strategies such as selling off their assets or going into debt have really been exhausted.
So there's the essential role of humanitarian relief in a situation like this. And sadly, as with many conflict situations, access for humanitarian organizations has been restricted. There are security risks for our organizations. We've had to pull our staff back into safer areas, and so a major ask we would have of the Canadian government is to use your diplomatic clout in order to encourage the Malian government and all the active parties of the conflict to allow access for humanitarian relief.
Oxfam is currently providing humanitarian assistance in northern Mali as well as to Malian refugees in Niger, Burkina Faso, and Mauritania. We provide basic food, clean water, public health-related assistance, and we're reaching about 60,000 people in Gao and nearly 150,000 refugees outside the country.
I think one of my colleagues mentioned that nearly 350,000 people have been forced from their homes since January 2012 last year, and additional thousands have had to flee their homes in the last few weeks because of the renewed fighting.
Most of the people who are internally displaced are living in extremely overcrowded and difficult conditions in urban centres with host families who are already poor also. Overseas, it's a similar situation. They're in host communities that are still recovering from the food crisis of the past year.
Of course, the economy is in a terrible situation. With the freeze in aid to Mali that most donor countries put in place after the government changed, overall government expenditures have been cut by 38%. That includes the education expenditure, which is down by 17%, health spending, which is down by 35%, and investments in water and sanitation, which are down by 94%.
We're concerned that the impact of the suspension of bilateral aid and some development aid has caused a shortfall in funding for social services and could have a serious impact on the local population, not only in the conflict area.
As far as recommendations go, certainly we second the recommendations made by World Vision and CARE regarding respect for international humanitarian law and human rights law, and we'd be happy to get into details in the question period. We would ask that Canada communicate this desire to France and other allies that are actually fighting on the ground.
Canada's diplomatic efforts could focus on ensuring access for humanitarian assistance and ensuring that neighbouring states keep their borders open for refugees to flee and also for commerce to occur with an unhindered passage, particularly in trade in food.
As far as overall funding goes, Canada could make a key contribution. As my colleague mentioned, until very recently, less than 1% of the UN consolidated appeal had actually been fulfilled by donors. The European Union came through with 20 million euros just last week, which brought it up to under 2%, but there's still a huge shortfall in the needed funds.
In the longer term—we don't want to lose sight of the longer term before I finish—even if an intervention is successful and the integrity of the country is restored, there's still the major challenge of creating the conditions for a lasting peace. Any military intervention cannot take the place of a longer-term political strategy, a broader political strategy aimed at building social cohesion and inclusive governance with all communities across the country. I hope we won't lose sight of that.
I would be pleased to answer your questions.