Plain rice and little else: life for 120,000 refugees inside Mauritania’s vast camp on Mali’s border

Over a quarter of a million refugees live in Mbera and nearby villages, and more than half are under 18. But aid cuts mean providing essentials has become even harder

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everal mornings a week, Mohamed ‘Momo’ Ag Malha walks at least 7 miles (11km) around the vast Mbera refugee camp in south-eastern Mauritania that has been his home since 2012. The exercise keeps the 84-year-old camp leader mentally and physically fit, and allows him to check on the wellbeing of other residents.

His first stay in Mauritania came in 1991, when he fled Mali as Tuareg separatists clashed with the army in his native Timbuktu region.

After four years as a refugee, he returned home and worked for a year as a social worker before becoming a teacher. Then in 2012, the Tuareg conflict once again forced him across the border.