Humanitarian organizations are calling for more attention and additional resources to help the 2.4 million people across the four-country region of the Lake Chad Basin in West Africa who have been displaced by the ongoing Boko Haram insurgency.
The International Committee for the Red Cross warns that this situation — which was named the “most neglected crisis of 2016” in a survey conducted by the Thomson Reuters Foundation — could see a growing human toll in northeastern Nigeria, far north Cameroon, western Chad and eastern Niger if there is not increased support from the international community.
“The Lake Chad Basin area even pre-conflict is characterized by a fragile, Sahelian ecosystem, relative poverty, demographic stress, weak state authority, absent or frail public services, social inequities, ethnic heterogeneity and monolithic economics,” ICRC Lake Chad operations coordinator Christian Wabnitz said.
About the author
Christin Roby@robyreports
Christin Roby worked as the West Africa Correspondent for Devex, covering global development trends, health, technology, and policy. Before relocating to West Africa, Christin spent several years working in local newsrooms and earned her master of science in videography and global affairs reporting from the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University. Her informed insight into the region stems from her diverse coverage of more than a dozen African nations.
