UN condemns Boko Haram IDP attack

After the attack on an internally displaced persons (IDP) camp in Maiduguri, Borno State by terrorist group Boko Haram on Wednesday, the United Nations have condemned the attacks by the group and urged the Nigerian government improve in its duty of securing lives of its people.

The attack by Boko Haram on an IDP camp that accommodates 12,600 civilians led to the death of at least eight persons and the abduction of several women. The insurgents also carried out attacks on four other communities in the state, namely Kofa, Mallumti, Ngomari and Gozari on Wednesday.

In a statement issued by the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UNOCHA), the UN Humanitarian Coordinator in Nigeria, Edward Kallon, decried the attack while sympathising with the victims of the attack.

“Attacks on camps for internally displaced people threaten these innocent women, children and men who have already fled their homes as a result of the ongoing conflict. Our deepest condolences go to the families of the victims of this attack and we wish the injured a speedy recovery.

“The attack took place in one of the nine camps for internally displaced people in Dalori; the camps were set up from 2015 and are now home to 47,500 civilians.

“More than 20 aid organisations are providing assistance including food, safe water, sanitation, medicine and shelter to thousands of people. In January 2016, a non-state armed group attacked Dalori village, killing more than 100 people and burning most of the village down.”

Parts of the attacked IDP camp were also razed by the insurgents using rocket-propelled grenades on tents and buildings.

Despite the governments’ boast that the insurgents have been incapacitated, there have been fight-backs and attacks by the terrorist group that has caused the loss of life and properties.

The humanitarian crisis in the north-east caused majorly by the insurgents is one of the most severe in the world today, with 7.7 million people in need of humanitarian assistance in 2018, according to the UN. Since the start of the crisis in 2009, over 27,000 people have been killed in the Borno, Adamawa and Yobe states, thousands of women and girls abducted and children used as so-called “suicide” bombers.