More than 5M people starve in Lake Chad Basin

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The United Nations warned Monday that more than 5 million people are battling starvation in the Lake Chad Basin.

The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said in a report that "5.1 million people are fighting famine" in this region, witnessing the "worst increase in four years."

The report added that "in the entire Lake Chad Basin region, 10.2 million people need humanitarian assistance", especially in the far north of Cameroon, in the Lake Chad region, and the Diffa region (southeast of Niger), in addition to three states in Nigeria: Adamawa, Borno, and Yobe.

The report warned that the violence that has been taking place in this region for 12 years, led to "basic social services and the already limited natural resources to face difficulties."

In his report, Osha pointed out the difficulties facing the delivery of humanitarian aid to those in need in this region due to acts of violence, whose scope continues to expand.

In particular, the report stated that "three consecutive attacks" were carried out in April in Damasak, a town in northeastern Nigeria on the border with Niger.

It should be noted that these attacks "directly targeted the humanitarian relief community" and "resulted in an unprecedented level of destruction, pushing thousands of families into a very critical situation."

These attacks were attributed to the Islamic State in West Africa.

According to the report, meeting the "most urgent humanitarian needs" in this region will require "2.5 billion dollars" in 2021, with only 13% secured until June.

All of these regions - some since 2009 - have faced attacks by Boko Haram and ISIS in West Africa.

The conflict in the Lake Chad Basin since 2009 has caused the largest displacement crisis in Africa, with more than two million people displaced and nearly 36,000 dead.

And 300,000 Nigerian refugees have fled atrocities in their country since 2015, according to the United Nations, in the Diffa region of Niger alone.