The federal government is calling on Canadians to join in offering financial aid to a group of West African countries struggling with famine, violence and political upheaval.
Ottawa has established a relief fund for the troubled Sahel region, International Co-operation Minister Julian Fantino said, adding that Canadians themselves will dictate how much money comes out of the federal coffers.
The government will match Canadians' donations to registered charities supporting the Sahel region between Aug. 7 and Sept.
30, Fantino said. Ottawa has already made an initial $10 million contribution to the matching fund.
"Right now, millions of women, men and children in the Sahel are suffering from hunger and severe malnutrition," Fantino said in a statement. "This is absolutely unacceptable. With generosity from Canadians, we can do more to respond to this crisis and support people in dire need."
The nine countries in the Sahel region have been con-tending with increasingly desperate conditions as political tensions escalate in Mali. A coup in the country's north has plunged the area into chaos as Islamist and other rebels fight for control of the territory.
The United Nations said last week that the political unrest has sent residents fleeing from the rule of rebel factions, some of whom have begun imposing harsh Islamic laws in the territories they hold.
UN High Commissioner for Refugees Antonio Guterres said 260,000 Malian refugees have fled for neighbouring Mauritania, Niger and Burkina Faso, which have kept their borders open and shared their food supplies despite the dire hunger crisis they face within their own nations.
Some 200,000 people also have been displaced within Mali, facing dire conditions.
Along with those four countries, Ottawa has identified Chad, Senegal, Gambia and northern Cameroon as being most severely impacted by the escalating crisis.
The UN humanitarian office has previously said 18 million people already face severe hunger and malnutrition in the Sahel region.
