Ivory Coast said it would set up two sites to temporarily house almost 19,000 refugees who have fled violence in Burkina Faso.
The National Security Council (CNS), chaired by President Alassane Ouattara, said the sites would shelter 18,846 refugees in Ouangolodougou, northern Ivory Coast, and Bouna, in the northeast.
The number of refugees in the country has soared in just over a year. In February 2022, there were around 7,000 according to UNHCR figures.
Many are currently living with communities in the north and northeast, the CNS said, on Wednesday and that some have been taken in by friends and relatives along the 620-kilometre (385-mile) border between the two countries.
The refugees are fleeing Burkina Faso due to deadly violence by armed groups linked to Al-Qaeda. Sometimes the armed groups carry out the attacks close to the border with Ivory Coast in the north.
The attacks have been escalating for several months and have killed more than 10,000 people in Burkina Faso since 2015, NGOs say.
The violence in the Sahel region of Africa is also affected Mali, Niger and Chad.
