Increasing violence and insecurity in Burkina Faso are spurring refugees to flee into neighboring countries, adding to political and humanitarian crises in the Sahel region.
The United Nations Refugee Agency, says about nineteen thousand two hundred Burkinabes fled to neighboring Ivory Coast, Mali, Niger, and Benin last year.
This was a 50% increase from the previous year.
The agency says the number of Burkinabes living in exile across the region has nearly doubled to more than 34,000. Among them are 7,000 refugees who have arrived in northwestern Ivory Coast since May.
According to VOA, the United Nations Refugee Agency Spokesman Boris Cheshirkov says vicious attacks by armed groups, mainly in the region bordering Ivory Coast, are driving more people to flee across the border.