Almost 44,000 people in Africa are registered as missing by the International Committee of the Red Cross

Almost 44,000 people in Africa are registered as missing by the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), of whom 45 percent were children at the time of their disappearance, the institution reported. "This number of cases is a drop in the ocean for the real number of people whose families are looking for them," said Sophie Marsac, the ICRC's regional adviser for missing persons and Africa, in a statement issued in Nairobi on the occasion of the International Day of the Disappeared, which is being celebrated this Sunday.

"Conflict, violence, migration and the climate crisis have continued to separate families in the (COVID-19) pandemic, but our work to find the missing has become even more difficult," said Marsac. Nigeria, Ethiopia, Southern Sudan, Somalia, Libya, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Cameroon account for 82 per cent of the ICRC's missing cases in Africa. "My son's disappearance has made me desperate, feeling that he is coming back. In the first two months, I locked myself in the house, emotionally depressed," said Juma Kedai Korok, whose 31-year-old son was abducted four years ago by an armed group in Southern Sudan.

He has had no news since then. "Dear son Konyi, if you are still alive and listening to me, your sisters, brothers, aunts and the whole family are waiting for you. We just want to hear your voice and see you," the 52-year-old father added in the statement. The country with the most missing people is Nigeria, with almost 23,000 people, almost all of whom are affected by the conflict in the northeast of its territory, where the jihadist group Boko Haram is active. The COVID-19 has created new challenges in the search for the missing, as it is no longer possible to gather people in large groups to hear names or look at photos, according to the ICRC.

To curb the spread of the coronavirus, many countries have suspended national travel between states or provinces, making it difficult for searches to be carried out over wider geographical areas. "The International Day of the Disappeared should remind us that countless families in Africa are searching for a loved one, many of them parents looking for a child," said Marsac. "The tragedy of the missing," he added, "is a humanitarian crisis that cannot be forgotten as the world focuses on fighting the COVID-19 pandemic," he said.