The UN says the humanitarian crisis in Lake Chad region persists and yet to be over. The global organization says millions of people remain dependent on life-saving assistance.
The UN Emergency Relief Coordinator, Mark Lowcock, at the Berlin Conference on the Lake Chad Basin region called for more support.
The Lake Chad region is reeling under conflict and climate change. That has plunged the region into one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises.
The international conference in Berlin this week aims at raising more support for the millions of people in need of aid.
Mark Lowcock said on Monday that more international support for the region is needed to safeguard the progress achieved.
“There is still a big humanitarian crisis. It is not over despite the progress we have made,” Lowcock told a high-level humanitarian conference on the region.
In February this year donors pledged over $650 million towards UN emergency assistance programmes in 2017 and beyond.
For 2018 an amount of $1.58 billion is required for assistance programs. But only about $600 million or 38 per cent had been received as of July 25.
Lowcock says “The appeal we had on the humanitarian response plan this year has been generously financed but not to the degree where any of us can be comfortable that we can meet the needs of the people we can reach, still less of those we are still trying to reach”.
The UN humanitarian coordinator says more than 10 million people across Nigeria, Cameroon, Chad and Niger still require assistance.
Meanwhile in these areas, activities of Boko Haram militants continue to pose a threat to reaching those in need of assistance.
Source: Africafeeds.com
