getti getting strength. and the fear is this could become a new safe haven for terrorists. we have heard horrible stories about what is happening and you're going to hear them. but sharia law is the rule. today i called the military leader for an czar al din, the main islamic radical group linked to al qaeda here. we wanted to tell you their side of the story, but here's what happened. [ speaking in foreign language ] >> translator: yes, this is omar. hello? >> hello. >> translator: yes, what do you want? >> good morning. good morning. do you speak english? >> translator: no, no. french is it. >> no, no. i have some help. can you ask him, are they hurting people? >> translator: listen, speak in french. no, no. listen. i do not speak to a woman. if approximate you would like to speak to me, give me a man. it is necessary to respect our religion. we do not speak to women. do you hear me? [ speaking in french ] >> no, we do not speak with women. it is necessary to give a man to speak with us. [ speaking in french ] hello, omar? omar? >> reporter: i want to explain how we got here. because mally is in the middle of a war that the world needs to watch. it began when the united states and nato intervened in libya when moammar gadhafi was killed, all of his weapons were essentially up for grabs, and they were stolen, stolen by some of the fierce tore regular tribe in mally and it's lambic radicals. the toreg used the weapons to fight and declare independence from mally, something they have wanted for decades. but the country was then split in half. the mallian government, with only 7,000 american-trained troops couldn't stop the toureg. and frustrated, some commanders staged a coup. mali, one of the most successful, fell into disarray. and that's when radicals seized the moment. person after person has told us of fighters seen in libya, algeria, afghanistan and other countries in the middle east. the islamic crushed the toureg, and the men they defeated told us the islamists have many more weapons, rpgs, ak-47s, mortars and high-caliber weapons mounted on the back of 4 x 4s. they also used actions and shovels to destroy historic shrines that date back 700 years. the toureg want to defeat the isl islamist and want help to do it. >> translator: the actions of the terrorists has direct consequences for europe and the united states. >> reporter: i can tell you here people are afraid. at villages along the border you'll see, they're very afraid of the islamic-linked militants. they say they're paying people to join the extremist cause and the radicals are giving people satellite phones so they can call in when they see a werner. this is causing many people to flee and come to camps that are destitute, like this one. the rainy season is in full swing, with torrential downpours that leave refugees with nowhere to hide. yet families walk up to a week in heat and rain to come here. mohammed fled his village in the middle of the night with seven members of his family. he left behind 80 goats, 10 cows and a camel. a fortune here. >> translator: they were killing people in my village and i was very scared. >> repter: it's still hard for 18-year-old fatuma to talk about what she saw. >> translator: they sliceded open one man's stomach. there is no life for a woman, and everything is forbidden. >> reporter: this man also named mohammed came after islamists tied him to the back of a car and killed his friend. >> translator: they beat him on the face, and they hit him with guns. then they stomped him to death. >> reporter: here in the camp, goat meat is all that's for sale. makeshift tents leak. food deliveries are once every two weeks, and lately, that hasn't even been enough. shortly after we arrived, an elderly woman collapsed among the crowd, waiting for rations of rice, sugar and oil. the female elder in this camp struggles to feed ten mouths. >> translator: there is not enough food and we want help. >> reporter: the world food program agrees. time is running out. >> we have food adequate to feed people for one month but after one month, it's really a problem. >> reporter: more than half the refugees are children. and for them, we found only one school, a madrasa teaching the koran. up to 70 children attend classes here. sanitary conditions are rudimentary, and many people are sick. a camp doctor told us people have parasites, skin disease, and children suffer from malnutrition. for now, there's not much to look forward to. and it's likely to get worse. "outfront" tonight, abraham acoaly with the united nations refugee agency, and carter with oxfamiliar, we appreciate you talking with us. tell me how bad this crisis is. this is a crisis a lot of people around the world have not heard much about, but there are twice as many refugees fleeing more than mali as from syria tonight. >> i would say this crisis has prove indicated a lot of people coming out from mali and in five months already we have more than 200,000 people who have sought asylum in the countries neighboring mali. and inside mali today we are talking about more than 200,000 idps. all together, it's a humanitarian crisis, when you talk about close to a half million people. and these people are in a situation where we can say desperate, because after five months, we are still in life-saving activities. >> reporter: simone, we were just looking behind at these stick tents, and these people are living in horrible conditions, and they have all said they don't have enough food. there is only enough food for one month, the world food program says, what is the biggest need? >> everything. we have great risks with water sanitation and hygiene, as well. as well as food. programs that were funded to respond for the first three months, they're now no longer seeking funding, which means that the latrines are being shut down, and we need to rebuild enough toilets to meet status quo. so within a few months, we won't have enough toilets, enough water. enough sanitation programs and enough food. >> reporter: so it's -- what can be done? summit, you were talking about -- i don't know what's worse here when you feel the extreme heat or the rains. when the rains come through and it's hard to describe this to everybody. but when the rains come through and things just flood, what happens then in these camps? >> so it's a breeding pool for malar malaria, so mosquitoes, garbage. people have a tendency when they see garbage, they will put their garbage in it, and the water will carry it away, but it doesn't. so it sits, creates a pool, stagnant water attracts mosquitoes, mosquitoes bring malaria. >> and cholera. >> six cases reported in the camps in my engineer. we have reported cases in mali, as well. so we are at great risk without handled washing facilities, water, latrines, everything filters into the water, you see the kids playing in them and people drinking from them and creates risk. and as you can see, the tents are not necessarily equipped to have mosquito nets set up, so even though we don't have the funding for mosquito nets, we couldn't put the mosquito nets up. >> reporter: even if you wanted to. >> yes. >> reporter: how much worse is this going to get? people are going to say tonight along the mali border, there doesn't seem to be a border anymore. they seem to be getting stronger. is this crisis in terms of the refugee outflow going to get worse? >> we are expecting it to get close -- to get worse, because the reputation in mali is not encouraging and there is no fighting so far for the moment, but we are expecting that whenever -- all other civilians sought asylum in the neighboring country and this will increase the situation we are facing today. where the response is very slow, and despite the appearance and the funding is constant to the humanitarian community. >> reporter: thank you so much for coming "outfront" and talking about this story. so many have called a silent crisis with a quarter million refugees outside the country, half a million inside. westerners here, or as they are called, white people, are already top targets for the extremists. and we're going to show you that. and there are men here tonight, actually a few just one of the tents behind me who are ready to go back and fight. they are waiting for the call. and we're going to tell you what the islamists told them about americans. this is new york state. we built the first railway, the first trade route to the west, the greatest empires. then, some said, we lost our edge. well today, there's a new new york state. one that's working to attract businesses and create jobs. a place where innovation meets determination... and businesses lead the world. the new new york works for business. find out how it can work for yours at thenewny.com. mine was earned off vietnam in 1968. over the south pacific in 1943. i got mine in iraq, 2003. usaa auto insurance is often handed down from generation to generation. because it offers a superior level of protection, and because usaa's commitment to serve the military, veterans and their families is without equal. begin your legacy, get an auto insurance quote. usaa. we know what it means to serve. starts with arthritis pain and a choice. take tylenol or take aleve, the #1 recommended pain reliever by orthopedic doctors. just two aleve can keep pain away all day. back to the news. just two aleve can keep pain away all day. focus lolo, focust sanya let's do this i am from baltimore south carolina... bloomington, california... austin, texas... we are all here to represent the country we love this is for everyone back home it's go time. across america, we're all committed to team usa. according to ford, the works fuel saver package could terally pay for itself. jim twitchel is this true? 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>> motor vehicle tar ben moqtar. he was near. he's a feared fighter, an al qaeda leader who has fought in afghanistan, algeria and libya. he was pronounced dead by western intelligence last month, but we were told he's alive in control of several major mallian cities and in a town close to us. the mali border is a few miles that way, and as you can see, this is incredibly remote terrain. people are wading through this -- basically a lake up to their knees. the thing is, we can't stay here very long, because the border is porous, and the islamists could be anywhere. we're told they're very near here today. and is even though it's difficult to dry, cell phones work so what islamists do is pay local people for information. so call in when you see someone -- a toureg which is how we had to dress today or a werner, which as they call them shls a white person. and then the islamists can move in quickly, take you hostage or even kill you. that water is keeping the village safe. for now. the village chief told me when it recedes, he fears the islamists will come. what kind of weapons have you seen with the islamists? >> rpg. >> ak. and mortar. >> mortar? >> mortar. >> some of the weapons seized from libya of the nato and u.s. intervention. weapons ripping apart a country and keeping one young man from what he loves. >> i love the dunes. i love it. this is my life. >> rocky and abdul are refugees and they're cousins and "outfront" tonight. thank you for being here. how many members of your family are here in this camp, rocky? >> we have 25 members of our family here. >> 25. >> 25. >> abdul, how are the conditions? >> condition is bad here. in the refugee camp. the . >> do you have enough food? >> we don't have enough food. >> not enough food. >> not enough food. >> people are hungry here. >> and when people are hungry, they don't have nothing to do. it's very bad for them. for young people. that don't go to school. they don't have anything to do. and sometimes they can turn bad. they can do bad things for having food for their family. >> yes. >> yeah. >> both of you were in school. >> yeah. >> and is are in school now. abdul, you are at university. but there is no more -- there are no more classes now, right? >> no more classes, no. because we came here in february. and in february, we cannot continue our studies here. we have to wait for next year. >> because there's no school in mali. >> there's no school in mali. can't study in mali because of the security. >> and what were you studying? >> i study english. i have additional degrees in english. >> are you going to be able to get a job? have you been able to get a job? >> i have five months here without getting a job. i don't know how to get a job. >> no job, no money. >> no job, no money. >> no job, no money, no food. >> what will you do? what will you do now? >> nothing special. we're here. nothing to do. reading. reading a lot. take care for our brothers, our sisters. that's all we have to do. >> and during the day, abdul, what do you do? >> i drink tea or read a lot. this is what i'm doing. >> waiting. >> yeah. >> just waiting for something to happen. >> yeah. >> so what are you do now? >> nothing. >> nothing. until this problem goes away. >> yeah. nothing. >> do you think it will go away? will it get better? >> we don't know. we are waiting to see what will happen. we want to return i our country someday. but we know that if these problems are not solved, we have many years to spend like this. >> and you're afraid to go back to your country now. >> yes. cannot go back now. >> why? because -- you could be killed. >> yes, of course. there is -- in the northern part of mali. >> we leave mabaqar because of that. when the fighting started, there was movement of the population. they burn toureg houses, they burn shops. and that's why we're here. we leave mabaqu and came here. we feared for our lives and for our families' lives, too. >> thank you for sharing your story with us. as you can see, the situation here is so hard for many people to imagine around the world. we'll go next to tim buck tu, at the heart of this crisis, not a mystical place, a real place. and is there a horrible tragedy going on there. and is there a threat of islamic radicals and al qaeda. so why is so little being done? 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