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”.
 “The narrative on this humanitarian 
crisis can no longer be ignored and we are appealing to the 
international community to help us prevent the deaths of thousands of 
innocent civilians over the coming 12 months,” the UN Deputy 
Humanitarian Coordinator Peter Lundberg said in a statement.
“The narrative on this humanitarian 
crisis can no longer be ignored and we are appealing to the 
international community to help us prevent the deaths of thousands of 
innocent civilians over the coming 12 months,” the UN Deputy 
Humanitarian Coordinator Peter Lundberg said in a statement.
“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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