Saudi sets to host donor support for displaced, refugees in Sahel, Lake Chad Basin

The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is set to host the Donors’ Conference to ‘Support the Displaced and Refugees’ in the Sahel and Lake Chad Basin on October 26, 2024.

The conference will take place at the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) headquarters in Jeddah, in collaboration with King Salman Humanitarian Aid and Relief Centre (KSrelief), the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).

The conference aims to raise awareness about the displacement and asylum crisis in the Sahel and Lake Chad region and mobilize financial resources for immediate humanitarian response.

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Saudi Arabia’s Foreign Affairs Minister, Prince Faisal bin Farhan bin Abdullah, and OIC Secretary-General, Hissein Brahim Taha, will address the opening session.

Prominent speakers will participate in a high-level session on the humanitarian challenges in the region. These include Dr. Abdullah Al Rabeeah, Advisor at the Royal Court of Saudi Arabia; Joyce Musaya, Acting Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs; Raouf Mazou, Assistant High Commissioner for Operations at UNHCR; and Zubaida Abubakar Umar, Director General of Nigeria’s National Emergency Management Agency.

The conference seeks to address the pressing humanitarian needs in the Sahel and Lake Chad Basin, ensuring a coordinated response to the crisis.

According to the Global Humanitarian Overview, 35 million people in the Sahel and Lake Chad Basin require protection and other forms of humanitarian aid in 2024.

The region’s humanitarian response plans, which call for a total of $4.7 billion in funding, are intended to help 22 million of the most vulnerable individuals.