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Military, UN end rift as Boko Haram kills four

By Njadvara Musa, Maiduguri
14 August 2017   |   4:30 am
In a move to resolve its disagreement with the United Nations (UN), the Nigerian military has declared support for the global body’s operations in the insurgency-ravaged north-east region.

The assurance was contained in a statement by the Theatre Commander, Operation Lafiya Dole, Maj-Gen Ibrahim Attahiru, which was made available to journalists in Maiduguri yesterday.

• Troops pledge to help agency in north-east

In a move to resolve its disagreement with the United Nations (UN), the Nigerian military has declared support for the global body’s operations in the insurgency-ravaged north-east region.

There has been a squabble between the military and the UN following a search at the agency’s base in Maiduguri, Borno State by troops.But in a reconciliatory move yesterday, the military re-assured the UN agencies operating in the north-east of “support and security” in rendering humanitarian services to 6.9 million displaced persons.

The assurance was contained in a statement by the Theatre Commander, Operation Lafiya Dole, Maj-Gen Ibrahim Attahiru, which was made available to journalists in Maiduguri yesterday.

Gen. Attahiru said the “cordon and search” operations on UN humanitarian workers’ base was never intended to undermine the integrity of the UN that has been working tirelessly to alleviate the suffering of displaced persons.

The statement reads in part: “The Nigerian military’s attention has been drawn to some negative rumour against the UN agencies’ operations in the North-East, following our cordon and search operation in Pompomari bypass, Maiduguri.

“One of the mandates of the Nigerian military in the north-east theatre of operation is to provide security and support to the UN and other humanitarian agencies to discharge their duties.

“Their roles have been complementing the efforts of the Federal Government in restoring normalcy in the affected sub-region of the country.“Mechanisms have been put in place to ensure that the incident that led to the peddling of misleading information in the social media does not occur again.”

This timely explanation of what happened at the UN building is helpful for the military that had been previously accused of abuses by Amnesty International in the prosecution of the war against terror in the northeast.

Gen. Attahiru assured the UN agencies in the region of their safety at all times. “We will continue to provide all necessary support and an enabling environment for the discharge of their humanitarian activities.”

The UN Deputy Humanitarian Coordinator, Peter Lundberg said that the relationship of “collaboration and trust” with the Nigerian government was intact to support millions of vulnerable people in the north-east with life-saving humanitarian aid.

Lundberg announced this at the weekend at a joint press conference with Governor Kashim Shettima of Borno State over the military’s “cordon and search” of UN Humanitarian workers’ base.

He described the search as a tumultuous event that generated significant media coverage before it was resolved at a security council meeting.His words: “At this stage of resolutions, we are focused on the work ahead to ensure that millions of vulnerable people in the north-east are supported with life-saving humanitarian aid.

“Responding to the humanitarian needs of millions of people in the North-East remains our priority and our focus, each and every day.“The humanitarian crises in Nigeria’s North-East and the Lake Chad region, is one of the most severe in the world today, with 8.5 million people in need of assistance in 2017 in the worst affected states of Borno, Adamawa, and Yobe and 6.9 million targeted for humanitarian assistance.”

According to him, the food security situation in the north-east is one of the major issues, as hundreds and thousands of people do not have enough to eat because of the lean season which is at its peak and compounded by insecurity.This means people cannot farm like they used to,” he said .

Governor Shettima, who described the search as regrettable, said following the incident, he summoned a security council meeting with all the security chiefs in attendance.His words: “We met alongside with the UN Deputy Humanitarian Coordinator and reaffirmed and resolved to work in synergy and look forward for even stronger collaboration with the United Nations.”

Meanwhile, suspected Boko Haram insurgents attacked Amarwa village in Konduga Local Government, Borno State, killing four villagers. About 12 other villagers were seriously wounded in the Saturday night attack.Amarwa is a farming and herding community located 15 kilometres east of Maiduguri, the state capital.

The insurgents, according to Modu Bukar, a member of Civilian JTF, burst into the village through the northern flank of Sambisa Forest.He said the insurgents took advantage of the 10:00 p.m. to 6:00 a.m. curfew to trap and attack the villagers in the houses and huts, before setting the village ablaze.

“The villagers were about to go to sleep when they heard chanting of ‘God is the great’ in Arabic by some insurgents who were armed with petrol bombs and AK-47 rifles and started firing at fleeing residents.

Ahmed Shehu of the Civil Liberty Organisation (CLO) also confirmed the incident to The Guardian in a text message.“Boko Haram burnt another village unit of Wanori, Amarwa village yesterday at about 10:00 p.m. to 11:30 p.m. as reported by the village head,” he said.

Shehu added: “Four people have been confirmed killed in the attack, while over a dozen others were injured and taken to hospital for treatment on Sunday morning.”The military and the police were yet to confirm the incident as the telephone lines of the spokespersons of both institutions were switched off at press time.

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