Over 8,000 people who fled their homes in a conflict-hit region in northeastern Mali are living under precarious conditions, an Oslo-based humanitarian group said Monday.
In an online statement, the Norwegian Refugee Agency (NRC) said the displaced from Menaka are facing health risks.
"Displaced families are drinking stagnant rainwater. Sanitary conditions are precarious. We fear the spread of water-borne diseases," said Badou Handane, emergency coordinator of the NRC, as quoted in the statement.
Recent violence in the south and southwestern parts of Menaka, at the border with Niger, forced people to flee to avoid recruitment by armed militants.
"Traumatized by last month's attacks, women, men and children have chosen to split into several groups, to avoid being all at the same place and become targets of any mass killings. They are scattered across an area with a radius of 3 kilometres," the group said.
Several militant groups are fighting in Mali, where French, Malian and UN peacekeepers are conducting counter-terrorism operations.
Tensions erupted in Mali in 2012 following a failed coup and a Tuareg rebellion that ultimately allowed al-Qaeda-linked militant groups to take over the northern half of the country.
In 2015, a peace deal was signed between the government and some insurgent groups.
Political and community disputes continue to fuel tensions in northern Mali, thus undermining the implementation of the peace agreement.
