Flooding in Mauritania may delay the start of the school year as peopledisplaced by heavy rains are living in classrooms. Flooding in West Africa isaffecting nearly 600,000 people.
More than 11,000 Mauritaniansin the southern Rosso area are receiving assistance from the UnitedNations World Food Program including cereals, vegetable oil, and sugar.
PrimeMinister Moulaye Ould Mohamed Laghdaf is promising to provide cleandrinking water to those displaced, and the United Nations Children'sFund is working with the national water company to install pumps.
Thisarea near the Senegal River has been particularly hard hit by heavyrains. Many of those displaced are living in shelters on higher groundseven kilometers north of Rosso along the road to the capital.
Thatmay delay the start of the school year as many children in the area arefar from home and some classrooms are being used to house thosedisplaced by the flooding.
Farmer Souleiman Sall is a father of eight.
Hesays he registered his family for assistance but only one of his wivesreceived aid while he says other women are going from registrationcenter to registration center signing up more than once.
Yacoub Ould Ousman came to Rosso from the flooded area of Satara on a horse cart because he lost his wheelchair.
Ousmansays he registered for assistance but his registration was canceled.Some of the people around him are being helped. Others are not. He sayshe feels like a citizen without a country and does not know what to dobecause there is no one to complain to.
Yahya Ould Cheikh Mohamed Vall is the governor of Rosso.
Vallsays the local government has registered more than 3,000 people whoneed help because of the flooding. He says the process has been slowedas local authorities have to verify the validity of claims because Vallsays many people are coming to Rosso from areas that are not affectedby flooding in hopes of getting aid for which they are not entitled.
The area around Rosso is also home to several thousand former refugees who have recently returned to Mauritania from Senegal.
Vallsays those refugees already live in better conditions than mostMauritanians as they have been given tents, land, and cattle.
Boubacar Mboje coordinates the repatriation of former refugees around Rosso.
Mbojesays most returning refugees live in hangars or small tents withoutsides, so they are not protected from rains that are destroying much oftheir personal property.
Aid agencies, including the Lutheran World Federation, are helping control mosquitos, disinfect toilets, and remove garbage.
There has also been flooding in the city of Kaedi and the Mauritanian capital, Nouakchott.