Anjali Sharma
GG News Bureau
UNITED NATIONS, 24th Jan. World body on Monday has expressed deep concerns at worsening security, economic, and humanitarian crises in Lake Chad region as the third Lake Chad Basin High Level Conference has begun to address long-standing issues and the needs of the population, including some 11 million people, who are in need of assistance.
UN described the conference as a critical international forum for effectively dealing with the challenges faced by the region. These include increased insecurity, development deficits, humanitarian needs, and barriers to access to basic social services, production systems and humanitarian support.
Over 13 years of conflict, armed groups continue to spread violence in the four countries that border the lake (Chad, Niger, Nigeria, and Cameroon).
Some 5.6 million people are at risk of severe food insecurity, and around 2.9 million are internally displaced including 2 million in Nigeria alone.
UN agencies noted that these figures have grown since the last Conference, held in Berlin in 2018, due to rising instability, the COVID-19 pandemic long-term effects, the impact of climate change, and economic shocks, all of which have exacerbated the humanitarian situation.
The amount of funding required for the emergency response in the Basin has also risen, from $259 million in 2018, to an estimated $1.8 billion.
The Conference is taking place at the Mahatma Gandhi International Conference Centre in Niamey, Niger, between 23-24 January is being co-hosted by the Governments of Niger, Germany, and Norway, together with the United Nations. Speakers include Joyce Musa, the UN Assistant Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Deputy Emergency Relief Coordinator.
The objectives of the conference include a focus on improved coordination between the different actors involved in humanitarian, stabilization, and development activities in the region; better access for humanitarian assistance to all parts of the population; and addressing the adverse impacts of climate change as part of peacebuilding and humanitarian efforts.
Ms. Msuya reminded delegates that Lake Chad was once a flourishing region, where goods moved freely across borders, in a collaborative environment.
She noted that spirit of cooperation broke down under a “Gordian knot of problems”, from extreme poverty and poor access to essential public services, to a lack of trust, rising inequality, corruption, sectarian mistrust, and rapid depletion of natural resources and climate change.
“Immediate humanitarian action is necessary to save lives and relieve the suffering that has resulted from this collapse. But unless we tackle the root causes of the crisis, the region’s wounds will not heal”, she added in a call for a long-term commitment to build lasting resilience, in the face of an uncertain future.
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