Drastic deterioration in security across Burkina Faso as 70,000 flee their homes in past two months, UN warns.

The landlocked West African country of Burkina Faso is facing 'unprecedented' displacement, triggered by armed groups and intercommunal clashes, and exacerbated by long-term food insecurity, UN aid officials said on Tuesday.

According to the UN humanitarian coordination office, OCHA, more than 70,000 have fled their homes in the last two months. Reports indicate that armed groups have also burnt schools and killed innocent civilians.

Increased insecurity, violence, a continuing food crisis, floods and epidemics are among the factors that have plunged Burkina Faso into a full-blown humanitarian crisis, with civilians traumatized after bearing witness to brutal attacks, and many have lost family members and most of their possessions, said an agency press release.

OCHA's spokesperson Jens Laerke described a rise in intercommunal clashes since the second half of last year. '[These are] clashes between communities and armed groups which are fighting each other, fighting Government forces and attacking civilians. That really took off at the beginning of this year, there were some very violent clashes in the beginning of January', he said, briefing journalists in Geneva.

On Tuesday, humanitarian partners said that US$100 million is needed to reach 898,000 people this year. Complementing this, the UN Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF) allocated $4 million to boost assistance to internally displaced people and host communities, and to also provide services for 15,500 women and girls.

The UN's Deputy Humanitarian Coordinator, Ursula Mueller, who ended a four-day visit to the country on Tuesday, said that those funds will 'make an immediate difference for displaced people, most of whom are women and children'.

Today, around 1.2 million people are in need of assistance in Burkina Faso's Sahel, North, North-Centre and Eastern regions.

The $100 million appeal to assist 900,000...