The sum of $2.52bn has been pledged by participants at the Berlin Conference on Boko Haram, to fight the insurgent group. The conference, focused on humanitarian assistance, civilian protection, crisis prevention and stabilisation for the region had sought to raise 1.56 billion dollars The UN humanitarian chief has , however, cautioned that the crisis is not over
The international donor conference on Boko Haram holding in Berlin on Monday, September 3, pledged 2.52 billion dollars to help countries in the Lake Chad Basin to fight Boko Haram. Germany’s Foreign Ministry said the aid would be disbursed “in the coming years” to Nigeria, Chad, Niger and Cameroon, where the jihadist group launched frequent suicide bomb attacks from its bases in Lake Chad, NAN reports.
Mark Lowcock, UN under-secretary-general for humanitarian affairs and emergency relief coordinator and head, UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, thanked donors for the generous donations. Lowcock said: “Your contribution at the Lake Chad Berlin conference will help us deliver life-saving humanitarian assistance throughout the Lake Chad Basin. “This support is crucial to ensuring that life-saving assistance reaches all those in need.”
The conference focused on humanitarian assistance, civilian protection, crisis prevention and stabilisation for the region and sought to raise 1.56 billion dollars while Lowcock had projected more than one billion dollars. Donations and pledges by countries were Germany, the host country, 265 million Euros and Norway, 125 million dollars.
The others were United States, 420 million dollars; Switzerland, 20 million dollars; France, 131 million Euros; Belgium, 45 million Euros; Finland, 2.3 million Euros; and Denmark, 72.5 million. The United Kingdom donated 146 million pounds; Canada, CAD, 68 million dollars; European Union, 231.5 million Euros; Luxembourg, 40 million Euros and Spain, 3.2 million Euros. Lowcock said a famine was averted in the region last year largely due to international aid, but that millions of people in Nigeria, Niger, Chad and Cameroon were still in dire need of help.
The UN humanitarian chief, however, cautioned that “the crisis is not over. There are still 10 million people who need life-saving assistance. “A quarter of the people we are trying to reach are displaced from their homes and the only means of staying alive they have is what is provided by humanitarian organisations.previously reported that officials from Nigeria, Germany, Norway, and the United Nations converged on Berlin on Monday, September 3, for a “pledging conference on Boko Haram”.
The Berlin Conference, holding from September 3rd to 4th, was jointly organised by the three countries and the UN, and is one of the 2018 largest pledging conferences for the Lake Chad region.
