The European Commission has announced it was allocating an additional €9 million to prevent a humanitarian crisis in Northern Mali. “I fear that the recent violence will exacerbate further the food emergency both in Northern Mali and in neighbouring countries where refugees are flowing to areas of acute food insecurity,” said Humanitarian Aid Commissioner Kristalina Georgieva, on 11 April. She called upon all parties involved in the fighting to “respect the rights of civilian and international humanitarian law” as the Commission’s “capacity to respond quickly to the growing needs is limited by insecurity”. The new funds come on top of €280 million that the Commission has already allocated to the West Africa region, and are aimed at helping with the provision of food, medicines, water and sanitation to the region.