By John Ikani
Hollywood actress Angelina Jolie has visited war-weakened Burkina Faso to show solidarity with people who continue to welcome the displaced, despite grappling with their own insecurity.
Her trip marked World Refugee Day, which is held every year on June 20.
“I’m here to show my solidarity to the Bukinabe people who continue to welcome the displaced brothers and sisters despite terrible attacks and challenges, sharing what little they have at a time when other countries with far more have closed their borders and their minds to the refugees,” Jolie said.
The actress and refugee activist was speaking at the Goudoubou refugee camp, around 15 kilometres (9 miles) outside the northeastern Burkina Faso town of Dori, close to the Sahel tri-border area which has been the epicentre of the violence.
“The humanitarian crisis in the Sahel seems to me to be totally neglected. It is treated as being of little geopolitical importance,” Jolie told the Associated Press.
“There’s a bias in the way we think about which countries and which people matter,” she lamented.
What you should know
As Special Envoy to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, Jolie’s visit to Burkina Faso’s Goudoubo refugee camp to mark the World Refugee Day has helped raised more awareness about the plight of refugees in poor and conflict-ridden African countries especially in the Sahel.
Burkina Faso suffered its worst attack in early June when 132 residents of the village of Solhan in Yagha province, bordering Niger, were killed by insurgents, causing more to flee.
Around 1.2 million people are displaced due to the violence in Burkina Faso, which is hosting over 22,000 Malian refugees who have fled similar jihadist violence at home. Around 11,000 are at the Goudoubou camp.
