Traumatized Malians desperately in need of aid, says U.N.

UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) – Malians in the country's vast desert north are scared and in desperate need of aid, traumatized at the hands of Islamist extremists and fearful of ethnic reprisals by government troops, a senior U.N. humanitarian official said on Tuesday. John Ging, director of operations for the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, said a U.N. appeal for $373 million to fund aid operations in the West African state had so far only received $17 million. …