Britain reiterates its commitment to supporting Nigeria and its neighbours in the fight against Boko Haram

BRITAIN has reiterated its pledged to support Nigeria and the neighbouring countries of the Lake Chad Basin to defeat Boko Haram insurgents operation in the region by providing additional financial support to the governments.

Since 2009, Boko Haram has been waging an insurgency in the Lake Chad Basin, affecting Nigeria, Cameroon, Niger Republic and Chad. In response to the threat, the United Nation (UN) passed a resolution condemning the terrorists and committing itself to assisting the four countries fight the scourge.

Speaking yesterday, at a Security Council meeting, Matthew Rycroft, Britain's permanent representative to the UN, said the UK will not relent in its support for the four governments. He called on all Security Council members to redouble their efforts to implement the commitments that they made in resolution 2349 against Boko Haram.

Mr Rycroft said: “The UK will play our part as we remain committed to partnering with Nigeria and its neighbours to degrade and defeat Boko Haram. We remain committed to helping people in need in the region, having scaled up our humanitarian support to $130 this year.

“We also announced an additional $260m over four years, as part of the North East Nigeria Transition to Development programme. However, we all need to play our part in the Nigeria Humanitarian Fund launched in February with an appeal for $1bn this year and as of last month, that appeal is less than half funded."

He added that as the UN secretary-general’s report makes clear, insufficient funding from the donor community continues to limit the provision of food aid, development and recovery activities. According to Mr Rycroft, just as the international community must act, so too should governments in the region.

“We look to the government of Nigeria and affected countries to provide greater resources where they can and to further prioritise the humanitarian response. We also call on them to expedite all remaining registrations for humanitarian organisations in the region, as the Secretary-General’s report notes.

“We welcome the increased civil-military coordination in the humanitarian effort and urge this to continue. Yes, Boko Haram has been degraded, yes territory has been reclaimed but Boko Haram is far from a spent force as they are down but not out, shifting their tactics from land grabs to opportunistic attacks," Mr Rycroft added.

He regretted that six months on from the visit of Security Council Fact Finding Mission to the Lake Chad Basin, the situation remained deeply troubling. According to Mr Rycroft, Maiduguri now faces weekly suicide attacks, many from girls forced to be suicide bombers and over 400 people have been killed since the UN visited.