The United Nations has temporarily suspended humanitarian assistance missions in Northeast Nigeria pending q review of the security situation.
This was disclosed in a statement issued by the international humanitarian organization after members of Boko Haram ambushed and wounded staff of UN agencies and other international humanitarian organizations on Thursday.
“Today unknown assailants attacked a humanitarian convoy that included staff from UNICEF, UNFPA, and IOM (Children’s Fund, Population Fund and International Office of Migration),” read a statement.
The UN reported the convoy was traveling from Bama to Maiduguri in Borno State, returning from delivering desperately needed humanitarian assistance.
“The United Nations has temporarily suspended humanitarian assistance missions pending review of the security situation,” the statement read.
The statement confirmed that a UNICEF employee and an IOM contractor were injured in the attack and are being treated at a local hospital. It added that all other UNICEF, IOM and UNFPA staff are safe.
The convoy was in a remote area of Meleri village, a few kilometres from Kawuri Borno State northeastern Nigeria, where protracted conflict has caused extreme suffering and has triggered a severe malnutrition crisis.
UN further stated that it was not only an attack on humanitarian workers but an attack on the people who most need the help and aid that these workers were bringing.
Some 20 000 civilians have been killed and 3 million displaced by the insurgency.
