Video released by the United Nation’s World Food Programme(WFP) on Monday (February 9) showed the desperate situation of refugees and displaced people fleeing attacks by Islamic sect Boko Haram in the Diffa region of southeast of Niger, near the border with Nigeria.
Relief agencies are scaling up their response to the refugee influx but insecurity is making it increasingly difficult to operate, especially in remote areas.
“There has been fierce fighting and the challenge is how to reach people that are camping there,” said the WFP’s Antonio Avella.
“We know already there are more than ten thousand refugees and displaced people waiting for the food assistance that was due this week, we have no possibility to reach Bosso,” Avella added.
In Bosso many refugees from Nigeria are living in makeshift shelters. The day after the video was shot, the city was attacked.
African nations pulling together a regional force to fight Nigeria’s BokoHaram militants on Saturday (February 7) pledged 8,700 soldiers, policemen and civilians, an increase from earlier estimates for the mission.
The African Union had previously authorised a force of 7,500 troops fromNigeria, Chad, Cameroon, Niger and Benin to take on the Islamists, who have seized large swathes of north-eastern Nigeria and mounted attacks on neighbouring nations.
Nigeria’s military is struggling against the five-year insurgency, which has killed thousands of Nigerians and displaced some 1.5 million people.
The number of women and children fleeing is increasing and their nutritional state is visibly poor.
“The situation is critical and alarming if you consider that one in every two persons crossing the border is food insecure and one out of three children is malnourished,” explained Avella.
Humanitarian agencies are not only helping the refugees, they are also providing assistance to vulnerable people among the host population. More than two thousand people are receiving food aid in Guessere and for the regional crisis it is planned to help over 230,000 people.
A new refugee camp in Sayam Forage that opened in January is already holding 700 refugees from Nigeria; most of them fled with nothing. Mrs Fanna’s story is typical.
“We were invaded by Boko Haram. I heard gunshots and I stepped out of my house, I saw two dead bodies so I grabbed my baby and ran,” she said.
The second half of 2014 saw a major increase of new arrivals in Diffa region. In October, only 15,000 people crossed the border. The total estimated number now stands at 125,000 people spread out over more than 140 sites and villages.
WFP is the world’s largest humanitarian agency, delivering food assistance in emergencies and working with communities. In 2013, WFP assisted more than 80 million people in 75 countries.
WFP Handout/Reuters
