Nairobi - Torrential rains and menacingly high waters in Niger have displaced landmines, sparking fears of explosions as the risk of hitting one is increased, the United Nations said Tuesday. Nearly 50,000 people have been affected by the flooding in Niger, one of the driest countries in Africa, with no end in sight to the pounding rains throughout East, West and Central Africa.
"Of great concern is also the fact that heavy unexpected rains have resulted in displacing landmines. The risk of hitting them any time at any place is very high," said a UN statement, which added a team was set to assess the situation.
The landmine displacement brings a new threat to the ongoing disaster that has hit some 18 countries in an arc from the Sahel to the Horn of Africa.
Some of the worst floods, which have affected some 1.5 million people continent wide, are in Uganda, where the surging waters have hit northern regions already severely affected by an ongoing humanitarian crisis due to a 20-year insurgency.
"The people, being internally displaced, have nowhere to go. They refuse to leave the area. Many of them are traumatized and lost the few things they had built up in the camps," said Janina Niemietz, spokeswoman for the German relief agency Aktion Deutschland Hilft.
She said roads were so badly damaged that aid workers were stranded, unable to move further with no access to thousands in need of help.
Other badly hit countries include Ghana, where some 260,000 have been affected, as well as Sudan, Togo and Ethiopia.
Scores have been killed by the flooding, which has devastated crops throughout the region and threatens to usher in water-borne disease outbreaks.
Aid agencies have made numerous appeals for emergency funding to address the floods.
