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
UN Human Rights Office Spokesperson Ravina Shamdasani said Tuesday UN Human Rights Chief Volker Türk was outraged by the repeated large-scale attacks by the Russian Federation on energy infrastructure in Ukraine.
1
1
1
Edited News | OHCHR
UN warns against repeating abuses in South Kordofan that occurred in El Fasher.
1
1
1
Edited News | OCHA , UNICEF
Mozambique floods heighten disease, malnutrition risks – UN agencies
Catastrophic flooding in Mozambique is causing massive disruption to lives and livelihoods across the country, increasing the risk of disease and exposing urban areas to crocodiles, UN humanitarians warned on Tuesday.
2
1
2
Press Conferences , Edited News | OCHA
Yemen: Children are dying and it’s going to get worse, aid veteran warns
In Yemen, renewed political instability threatens and economic woes linked to the war to complicate the already difficult task of helping vulnerable people suffering from deepening hunger, illness and displacement, the UN's top aid official there said on Monday.
1
1
1
Edited News | UNICEF , IFRC
Ukraine: Families in ‘survival mode’ amid Russian strikes and -18°C cold
Families across Ukraine are in “constant survival mode” amid ongoing waves of Russian missile and drone strikes that have left blocks without power for days at a time, while temperatures plunge to a deadly -18°C (-0.4°F), the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) said on Friday.
1
1
1
Edited News | OHCHR , UNOG
At the bi-weekly press conference in Geneva, UN Human Rights Spokesperson Jeremy Laurence urges Iranian authorities to end violent repression and calls for accountability.
1
1
1
Edited News | UNICEF
Gaza: A ceasefire that ‘still buries children’ is not enough, says UNICEF
Airstrikes, drone strikes and hypothermia are among the lethal conditions prevailing in Gaza despite the ceasefire, with more than 100 children killed since early October, the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) said on Tuesday.
1
1
Edited News | OHCHR
At the UN bi-weekly press conference in Geneva, UN Human Rights Spokesperson Marta Hurtado commented on the widespread repression and intimidation against political opposition ahead of the general elections in Uganda.
1
1
1
Edited News | OCHA , UNICEF
Aid agencies marked 1,000 days of war in Sudan on Friday with a grim reminder that the conflict has created the world’s biggest hunger crisis and largest displacement emergency. Every day, civilians have been “paying the price for a war they did not choose”, said the UN aid coordination office, OCHA.
1
1
1
Edited News | OHCHR
Ravina Shamdasani, UN Human Rights spokesperson, made the following comments at the bi-weekly press briefing of the United Nations on the United States’ intervention in Venezuela.
1
1
1
Edited News | OCHA , OHCHR
Venezuela: US military intervention ‘far from victory for human rights’, makes world less safe – UN rights office
The UN rights office (OHCHR) on Tuesday expressed concern over the situation in Venezuela following the United States military operation and seizure of President Nicolás Maduro over the weekend, insisting that the move runs counter to international law and damages global security.
1
1
1
Edited News | IOM
As fighting spreads across Sudan in a dangerous new escalation, "people are scared, people are fleeing their homes," the UN migration agency, IOM, said on Friday, noting that more than 50,000 people have fled attacks and violence since late October in Kordofan region alone.