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.
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.
(dpa/NAN)
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