US provides additional $40m for Lake Chad Basin humanitarian response

Samantha Power, US ambassador to the United Nations, has announced additional $40 million funding in humanitarian assistance to victims of the Boko Haram violence.

This was revealed in Cameroon during a trip to the Lake Chad Basin region to highlight the growing threat of Boko Haram.

The new financial support takes the funding for the programme to $237 million between 2015 and 2016 financial year.

Approximately 7 million people are suffering displacement, deprivation and disease from the consequences of Boko Haram attacks in North Eastern Nigeria, including 2.2 million internally displaced

As a result of the prolonged crisis, communities who have generously hosted IDPs have also exhausted their resources and find themselves struggling to make ends meet

There are nearly 170,000 Nigerian refugees who have fled to Cameroon, Chad, and Niger – countries whose citizens have also suffered from Boko Haram attacks and consequent displacement.

According to Power, the funding will support the work of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), the UN World Food Programme (WFP), and other international aid organisations in the region to provide essential protection and assistance to those affected.

The funding, according to her, will allow UNHCR to provide Nigerian refugees with essential assistance, such as access to clean water and sanitation facilities, healthcare, essential household items, shelter, programmes that protect children, and activities to prevent and respond to gender-based violence.

She said that it would also support UNHCR’s protection efforts across the region, including maintaining access to asylum and preventing refoulement.

The United Nations expounds a non-refoulement principle, which seeks to prevent rendering of a true victim of persecution to his or her persecutor, especially the state.

The US contribution will also allow our partners to extend and expand the reach of emergency food assistance in North Eastern Nigeria. By providing the most vulnerable people, including displaced persons, with cash and vouchers for food, the US is promoting household food security while supporting local markets and trade.

In total, the UN estimates that there are 9.2 million people across the Lake Chad Basin region in need of immediate assistance and has requested $535 million for the 2016 response. The US encourages other donors to join us in responding to this humanitarian crisis, according to Power, as she is visiting Nigeria, Cameroon and Chad to highlight the growing threat Boko Haram poses to the Lake Chard Basin region.

The visit was prompted by concerns that the Islamist group poses an acute threat to civilians across the Lake Chad Basin, and the group’s increasing lethality and relationship with ISIL, which is giving them a cause for alarm.