B-Haram violence taking “devastating toll” on children ---UNICEF
(Nigeria) Years of violence by Islamist Boko Haram militants have taken a "devastating toll" on children living in the Lake Chad basin, the United Nations Children's Fund, UNICEF, said on Thursday.
The insurgency displaced 1.4 million children in Nigeria,
Cameroon, Chad and Niger and left at least another one million trapped in areas
that are hard to reach or under the control of Boko Haram, the agency said, reports dpa.
An estimated 475,000 children across Lake Chad are expected
to suffer from severe acute malnutrition this year, up from 175,000 at the
beginning of the year, according to the report.
"Humanitarian needs are outpacing the response,"
warned UNICEF regional director for West and Central Africa Manuel Fontaine.
In north-eastern Nigeria alone, where Boko Haram has its
strongholds, an estimated 20,000 children have been separated from their
families.
About 38 children have been used to carry out suicide
attacks in the Lake Chad basin so far this year, the UN said, bringing to 86
the number of children used as suicide bombers since 2014.
Earlier this week, the World Food Programme warned that the
number of people who need food aid in north-eastern Nigeria has almost doubled
to 4.5 million between March and August.
Boko Haram poses a steady threat to communities in the
north-east of Nigeria and has also launched offensives in neighbouring Chad,
Niger and Cameroon.
Since 2009, at least 14,000 people have died at the hands of
the Sunni fundamentalists.
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