Boko Haram victims need $1bn aid – UN
A billion dollars are needed to provide
aid for victims of Boko Haram jihadists in Nigeria’s restive northeast
next year, the United Nations said Friday, calling the conflict “the
largest crisis in Africa”.

“This is the largest crisis on the
African continent and I am confident that with the support of the
international community and the private sector, we can begin to bring
hope to the people of the northeast,” he said.
The UN said the humanitarian response
plan would address the needs of almost seven million people, in dire
need of nutrition, food, shelter, healthcare and education.
“A projected 5.1 million people will
face serious food shortages as the conflict and risk of unexploded
improvised devices prevented farmers planting for a third year in a row,
causing a major food crisis,” it said.
Nigeria’s junior budget minister Zainab
Ahmed was quoted as saying the government would continue to demonstrate
strong commitment to work with the international humanitarian community
on the crisis.
The scale of humanitarian suffering
became more apparent after Nigerian troops recaptured swathes of
territory held by Boko Haram since 2015.
The Boko Haram jihadist group has waged a
brutal seven-year insurgency in Nigeria’s mainly-Muslim north, with
violence spreading to Cameroon, Chad and Niger.
At least 20,000 people have been killed
and 2.6 million more displaced by the unrest, mostly in the northeastern
states of Borno, Adamawa and Yobe, the epicentre of the Islamist
uprising.
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