The charity known by its French acronym
MSF said the region devastated by Boko Haram’s Islamist insurgency had
between 500,000 and 800,000 people trapped in areas that cannot be
reached by humanitarian workers. A UN “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 nearly enough attention, MSF said.
Nigeria on a list with Syria, Iraq and Yemen — would immediately mobilise more resources to a crisis that has not received nearly enough attention, MSF said.
Boko Haram attacks in the northeast have
declined over the last year, but MSF’s emergency programme manager
Hugues Robert noted that aid workers were still limited in where they
can go.
Some cities in the northeast, such as
Banki and Bama, had gone up to 18 months without any humanitarian
deliveries before aid agencies and the UN arrived in June.
“What was extremely shocking was the
level of severe acute malnutrition,” Robert said, adding that
communities faced “close to a famine situation.”
Many areas can only be accessed under
escort from the Nigerian army, he told reporters in Geneva after
returning from Borno state, the epicentre of the Boko Haram insurgency.
“We need the UN and all their agencies
to consider this as a top emergency,” Bruno Jochum, director of MSF
Switzerland, told reporters.
Boko Haram, which seeks to impose strict
Islamic law in northern Nigeria, has been blamed for some 20,000 deaths
and displacing more than 2.6 million people since 2009.
AFP
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