UNICEF will continue to provide assistance to millions of conflict-affected children in northeast Nigeria, despite an attack on its convoy by Boko Haram Islamists, the United Nations children’s agency has said.
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A UNICEF employee and an International Organization for Migration contractor were injured in the attack.
UNICEF has called on donors and humanitarian organizations to scale-up the response to the emerging disaster in Borno state, which is the most affected by the conflict with Boko Haram.
“I met the United Nations officials and they told me that the attack would not deter them from doing their humanitarian work”.
The UN estimates that more than nine million people in the region need humanitarian assistance. In a statement, UNICEF says the assistance was “desperately needed”.
Unknown assailants attacked the convoy as it travelled from Bama to Maiduguri after delivering humanitarian assistance.
Northeastern Nigeria is now experiencing a malnutrition crisis due to ongoing violence perpetrated by Boko Haram militants.
The 7-year uprising by Boko Haram, which joined the Islamic State group last year, has killed more than 20,000 people, forced more than 2 million from their homes and spread across Nigeria’s borders to Cameroon, Chad and Niger.
This comment was confirmed and supported by the Deputy Governor of Borno State, Alhaji Usman Mamman Durkwa, at a press briefing in Maiduguri on Friday.
Severely malnourished children are dying in large numbers in northeast Nigeria, the former stronghold of Boko Haram militants where food supplies are close to running out, Medecins Sans Frontieres said on Wednesday.
“In continuation with clearance operation of towns and villages, troops of Sector 4 in Diffa (Niger) have successfully cleared Dutse village, captured and occupied Damasak town”, he said.
The 15,000 people in the Nigerian town of Banki are isolated, cut off from the rest of the world and totally dependent on worldwide aid, according to the Head of emergencies for Doctors Without Borders, Hughes Robert.
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“Throughout our discussions, there was no mention of suspension of humanitarian work in the state”.
