Officials of the United Nations were among those injured on Thursday in northeast Nigeria as Boko Haram terrorists ambushed their vehicles as they from Bama where they had gone to offer relief services to displaced persons, officials said. “All other UNICEF, IOM and UNFPA staff are safe”, the organisation had said in a statement issued after the attack.
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“We are suspending our movements in some areas of Borno State for a few days”, said Elodie Schindler, spokeswoman for the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC).
The spokesperson pointed out that two million people remained inaccessible in Borno state, emphasizing the need to scale up assistance.
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The Chief Military Public Information Officer and spokesperson of MNJTF, Col. Muhammad Dole, in a brief statement, said the troops also cleared the terrorists from the surrounding villages.
Colonel Sani Kukasheka Usman, Nigerian army spokesman, said the attack took place when the convoy was on its way to Maiduguri, the capital of Borno, from Bama. Unfortunately, two soldiers and three civilians were wounded in the ambush, among whom were staff of United Nations agencies and other worldwide humanitarian organisations.
“Before the attack, security conditions had been improving in several areas”.
A United Nations “top emergency” designation – which would put Nigeria on a list with Syria, Iraq and Yemen – would immediately mobilise more resources to a crisis that has not received almost enough attention, MSF said.
Boko Haram has coerced more than 50 children to carry out suicide bombings from January to June of this year, said O’Brien.
“UNICEF wishes to raise awareness among all donors of the gravity of the situation in Borno and to urgently provide resources”.
In the town of Bama, MSF teams estimate that 15 percent of children are suffering from life-threatening malnutrition.
“We are committing to a long term operation in collaboration with the Nigerian authorities, and want to do our utmost to assist these vulnerable people”, says Robert.
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According to the MSF, in 2015 it provided over 340,000 consultations to the local population, treated 13,000 children for malnutrition and vaccinated more than 58,500 people against cholera.
