The United Nations Office at Geneva
Multimedia Newsroom
Edited News | UNHCR , OCHA , UNOG
UNOG Bi-weekly press briefing: North-East Nigeria Alert - UNHCR, OCHA
STORYLINE
Northeast Nigeria violence forces 65,000 to flee, humanitarians targeted
A spate of clashes involving Government security forces and insurgent groups in northeast Nigeria has caused mass displacement and threatened humanitarian assistance, as armed groups go “house-to-house” in the search for aid workers, the UN said on Friday.
“Up to 65,000 Nigerians are on the move following a series of attacks by armed groups on Damasak town, in northeast Nigeria’s restive Borno State,” UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) spokesperson Babar Baloch told journalists in Geneva. “Initial reports indicate that eight people were killed, and a dozen injured.”
Echoing those concerns, the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) reported several incidents in the town since Sunday 11 April.
“Humanitarian assets have been targeted, including the destruction of at least five NGO offices and several NGO vehicles, a mobile storage unit, water tanks, a health outpost and a nutrition stabilization centre,” said OCHA spokesperson Jens Laerke.
Non-state armed actors were also “conducting house-to-house searches, reportedly looking for civilians identified as aid workers”, he said.
This was despite the fact that aid operations and humanitarian facilities were a “lifeline for people in northeast Nigeria who depend on assistance to survive”.
According to OCHA, the attacks will affect support to nearly 9,000 internally displaced people and 76,000 people in the host community who are receiving humanitarian assistance and protection.
In the latest reported attack on Wednesday 14 April - the third in seven days – UNHCR’s Mr Baloch explained that “up to 80 per cent of the town’s population —which includes the local community and internally displaced people as well – had been forced to flee.
Assailants looted and burned down private homes, warehouses of humanitarian agencies, a police station, a clinic and also a UNHCR facility.
Describing the situation as “extremely critical”, OCHA’s Mr Laerke insisted that if the attacks continue, “it will be impossible, maybe for longer periods of time, for us to deliver aid to people who desperately need it” – his comments coming as UNHCR noted that its staff have relocated out of Damasak temporarily this week.
Civilians fleeing the violence include Nigerians and Niger nationals, Mr Baloch said, explaining they had made for Borno state’s capital city, Maiduguri and Geidam town in neighbouring Yobe State. Others crossed into Niger’s Diffa region.
Years of insecurity and insurgency in Nigeria’s northeast have created a massive humanitarian emergency in the Lake Chad basin.
To date, it has uprooted some 3.3 million people. “More than 300,000 are Nigerian refugees, more than 50 per cent of them are hosted in Niger and Diffa region - where these refugees, where thousands of refugees, are now arriving from Nigeria, already hosts a quarter (of a) million refugees from Nigeria,” Mr Baloch said.
ends
STORY: North-East Nigeria Alert – UNHCR, OCHA
TRT: 02 min 25s
SOURCE: UNTV CH
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH / NATS
ASPECT RATIO: 16:9
DATELINE: 16 APRIL 2021 GENEVA, SWITZERLAND
SHOTLIST
- Exterior wide shot, Palais des Nations flag alley, nations’ flags flying, a cloudy day.
- Wide shot, podium with speakers in a near-empty Room XIV in line with COVID-19 distancing measures, Palais des Nations.
- SOUNDBITE (English) — Babar Baloch, spokesperson for UNHCR (UN Office of the High Commissioner for Refugees): “UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, is deeply concerned as up to 65,000 Nigerians are on the move following a series of attacks by armed groups on Damasak town, in northeast Nigeria’s restive Borno State. Initial reports indicate that eight people were killed, and a dozen injured.”
- Medium shot, TV broadcasting in foreground and podium to rear, Room XIV, Palais des Nations.
- SOUNDBITE (English) — Babar Baloch, spokesperson for UNHCR (UN Office of the High Commissioner for Refugees): “Following the latest attack on Wednesday 14 April, the third in just seven days, up to 80 per cent of the town’s population —which includes the local community and internally displaced people as well— were forced to flee. Assailants looted and burned down private homes, warehouses of humanitarian agencies, a police station, a clinic and also a UNHCR facility.”
- Medium shot, podium with speakers talking, Room XIV, Palais des Nations.
- SOUNDBITE (English) — Jens Laerke, spokesperson for OCHA (UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs): “OCHA also continues to receive very worrying reports of clashes between insurgent groups and the Nigerian Armed Forces in Damasak in Borno State, and that non-state armed groups are targeting humanitarian assets and facilities. And recently, also conducting house to house searches, reportedly looking for civilians identified as aid workers.”
- Wide medium shot, podium with speakers to rear, Palais des Nations.
- SOUNDBITE (English) — Jens Laerke, spokesperson for OCHA (UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs): “The situation on the ground is extremely critical, if this continues it will be impossible, maybe for longer periods of time, for us to deliver aid to people who desperately need it.”
- Medium close-up, Jens Laerke looking at his notes and journalist sitting behind, Room XIV, Palais des Nations
- SOUNDBITE (English) — Babar Baloch, spokesperson for UNHCR (UN Office of the High Commissioner for Refugees): “Violence in the Lake Chad region Basin has uprooted 3.3 million people and more than 300,000 are Nigerian refugees, more than 50 per cent of them are hosted in Niger and Diffa region where these refugees, where thousands of refugees are now arriving from Nigeria already hosts a quarter million refugees from Nigeria.”
- Close-up, UN logo, Room XIV, Palais des Nations.
Similar Stories
1
1
1
Edited News | OHCHR , UNOG
The United Nations Integrated Office in Haiti (BINUH) and the UN Human Rights Office have today released a report detailing the evolution of violent gang incidents beyond the capital Port-au-Prince since October 2024 up to June 2025, and the resulting loss of life and mass displacement.
1
1
1
Edited News | WHO , OHCHR
Gaza: ‘Unacceptable’ choice between getting shot or getting fed – UN humanitarians
Following the deaths of several children in an Israeli strike on Palestinians waiting in line for nutritional supplements in central Gaza on Thursday, UN humanitarians have once again condemned the killings of people at aid distribution sites in the enclave.
1
1
1
Edited News | OHCHR , UNOG
At the United Nations bi-weekly press briefing in Geneva, Ravina Shamdasani, Spokesperson for the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights made the following comments on the recent violence in Kenya.
1
1
1
Edited News | ITC
US tariffs uncertainty hurts world economy, with poorest countries hit hardest – top UN economist
A new US decision to further delay the end of a 90-day pause on tariffs is bad for business, a top UN economist said on Tuesday.
1
1
1
Edited News | WHO , OHCHR
Gaza aid site horror continues as more starving people shot trying to get food
Amid intensifying hopes for a new Gaza ceasefire, UN humanitarians confirmed disturbing details on Friday of continued killings and injuries of Palestinians desperately seeking food at aid sites.
1
1
1
Edited News | OCHA
A clearer picture of needs across Iran is beginning to emerge after the conflict this month with Israel, which left hundreds dead, several hospitals hit and a spike in Afghan refugees returning home, the UN’s top official in Tehran said on Tuesday.
1
1
1
Edited News | WMO
The blistering early-summer heatwave that’s brought life-threatening temperatures across much of the northern hemisphere is a worrying sign of things to come, UN weather experts said on Tuesday.
1
1
1
Edited News | OHCHR
UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk made the following remarks to the Human Rights Council annual panel on adverse impacts of climate change.
1
1
2
Edited News | WHO
The first meagre midweek delivery of urgently needed medical goods to enter Gaza in months will provide scant relief to the enclave’s people, who continue to be shot and killed as they search for food, the UN World Health Organization (WHO) said on Friday.
2
1
2
Statements , Edited News | HRC
Enhanced interactive dialogue on the High Commissioner’s report on Myanmar presented by Volker Türk, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights and oral update by Thomas Andrews, Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Myanmar
1
1
1
Edited News | UNOG
The conflict-impacted people of the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) urgently need much more international assistance than they are getting today, the UN’s top aid official said on Thursday.
1
1
2
Edited News | UNOG
Violence in Myanmar is spiralling as the military junta increases its attacks on monasteries, schools and camps sheltering people uprooted by the civil war, a top independent human rights investigator warned on Wednesday.