DAKAR (Thomson
Reuters Foundation) - More than 2,000 people may have died of famine this year
in parts of northeast Nigeria which cannot be reached by aid agencies
due to an
insurgency by Islamic militant group Boko Haram, hunger experts said on
Tuesday.
The deaths occurred
in the town of Bama in Nigeria's Borno state, the jihadists' former stronghold,
a report by the U.S.-based Famine Early Warning Systems Network (FEWS NET)
said.
While food aid is
staving off famine for people uprooted by conflict who can be reached, the
outlook is bleak for those in parts of the northeast cut off from help,
according to FEWS NET.
"The risk of
famine in inaccessible areas of Borno State will remain high over the coming
year," the report said.
"In a
worst-case scenario, where conflict cuts off areas that are currently
accessible and dependent on assistance, the likelihood of famine in these areas
would be high," it added.
Around 4.7 million
people are in need of emergency food aid in Borno, Adamawa, and Yobe states -
nearly two-thirds of them in Borno alone - according to FEWS NET.
Some 400,000 children
are at risk from famine in the three states, 75,000 of whom could die from
hunger within months, the U.N. children's agency (UNICEF) said in September.
Yet the current
humanitarian response is insufficient amid extreme levels of food insecurity,
and only one million people have received food aid this year, FEWS NET said.
Almost four in five
of the 1.4 million displaced Nigerians in Borno state are living in local
communities, where tensions are rising in many families as food runs short.
Improving security
has enabled aid agencies this year to reach some areas that were previously cut
off, but many remain unreachable due to the ongoing violence and lack of
security.
Reuters
0 Comments