The UN, Chad, Niger and Cameroon appealed on Friday for help for
millions of people in the Lake Chad Basin region forced to flee the
violence of Boko Haram and hit with repeated droughts and floods that
have brought malnutrition and disease.
But while the radical
Islamist militants operate out of Nigeria and UN aid chief Stephen
O'Brien said that is where most people have been displaced by their
attacks, Nigeria did not send anyone to the UN event.
US and EU
diplomats said they were disappointed that Nigeria did not attend the
event chaired by O'Brien on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly.
The Nigerian UN mission was not immediately available to comment on its absence.
'A genuine disaster'
A
regional offensive by Nigeria, Niger, Chad and Cameroon earlier this
year drove Boko Haram from
much of the territory it held in northern
Nigeria. But the militants have since struck back with a renewed wave of
deadly raids and suicide bombings.
"These (displaced) families
are being used as ammunition because it is the children that are used as
bombers in markets and in train stations," said Chad's Foreign Minister
Moussa Faki Mahamat. "Trade is virtually wiped out in this area."
Several
UN diplomats at the event warned that the aid emergency in Lake Chad
Basin risked being forgotten amid other humanitarian crises in Syria,
Yemen and South Sudan.
Niger Prime Minister Brigi Rafini said the region was in the midst of a "genuine disaster."
"We
need massive assistance from the international community," he said. "It
is the population that has shared with these refugees and displaced
people the little they have while they themselves are living in
extremely vulnerable situations."
Pushed over the edge
The
UN said some 2.3 million people have been forced from their homes since
May 2013, and a quarter of a million of them have fled from Nigeria
into Cameroon, Chad and Niger, many walking hundreds of miles.
"Droughts
and floods hit the region repeatedly. Malnutrition and disease
outbreaks hover at emergency levels. Some 5.5 million people do not have
enough to eat," O'Brien said. "The emergence of Boko Haram has pushed
them over the edge."
O'Brien said UN appeals for 2015 to help
those displaced people and refugees in Nigeria, Cameroon, Chad and Niger
were all less than half-funded.
The US on Friday announced $6.8 million in funding for regional aid efforts.
Saturday, September 26, 2015
UN appeals for help for Boko Haram displaced
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