Lake Chad Basin: Crisis Update No. 5 (11 July 2016)

Regional Highlights

• Recent improvements in humanitarian access have uncovered emergency levels of severe acute malnutrition (SAM) and famine-like conditions in Borno State, and particularly in 15 satellite camps, where some 275,000 people are living.
• Boko Haram elements have mounted several attacks in recent weeks, displacing tens of thousands of people in the conflict-hit regions of the Lake Chad Basin. In Bosso area in the south-east of Niger, attacks displaced some 70,000 people.
• In Chad, improved security has allowed humanitarian actors to accelerate delivery of assistance in previously hard-to reach areas in the western and northern parts of the Lac region.
• A regional protection dialogue was held in Abuja from 6 - 8 June bringing together participants from the Governments of Cameroon, Chad, Niger and Nigeria, international and regional organizations, donor governments and civil society. The Governments agreed on measures to provide better protection and assistance to populations of the Lake Chad Basin, in particular to refugees and internally displaced persons.
• The Governments of Cameroon, Nigeria and the UNHCR regional representative on 9 June initialled a tripartite agreement for the voluntary repatriation of Nigerian refugees in Cameroon. The official signing of the document is set for July.
• The Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF) approved US $10 million to respond to the humanitarian crisis in the Lac region and food insecurity in the Sahel regions of Chad. For Nigeria, the CERF disbursed $13 million on 27 June to provide life-saving assistance to 250,000 people in the conflict-hit northeastern region.
• During the ECOSOC Humanitarian Affairs Segment, a dedicated side-event on the Lake Chad Basin, “Ending Needs in the Lake Chad Basin", explored how best to achieve collective outcomes for people affected by the crisis.

Humanitarian Needs: Population movement

• Around 70,000 people have been displaced in Niger’s south-eastern Bosso area following the 3 - 6 June Boko Haram attacks that came in the wake of rising insecurity in and around the region. Many of the displaced had been evacuated a year ago from islands in Lake Chad for security reasons.
  Assistance is being provided in the various sites where the displaced have settled.
• In Chad, according to a joint needs assessment conducted in eight recently identified sites in Liwa sub-prefecture and new registrations, there are now almost 112,000 displaced people, including around 66,000 registered internally displaced persons (IDPs), 37,000 estimated displaced people yet to be registered, almost 9,000 Chadian returnees, and 400 third-country nationals. In addition, there are almost 7,000 refugees.
• During the first two weeks of June alone, at least 1,800 IDPs arrived at the Muna Garage Camp in Nigeria’s Borno State. Some 800 arrived on foot on 4 June from Mafa and other areas in eastern Borno, while another 1,000 were registered on 8 June.

Protection

• The Governments of Cameroon, Chad, Niger and Nigeria on 8 June agreed on measures to provide better protection and assistance to populations of the Lake Chad Basin, in particular to refugees and internally displaced persons. The Governments, UN agencies and NGOs gathered for a UNHCR-led protection dialogue in Abuja also committed to take concrete steps to address key protection risks faced by the affected populations such as measures to ensure the civilian and humanitarian character of hosting areas and continued access to asylum, including respect for the principle of non-refoulement.
• On 9 June, the Governments of Cameroon, Nigeria and the UNHCR regional representative initialled a tripartite agreement for the voluntary repatriation of Nigerian refugees in Cameroon. The official signing of the document is set for July.

Food Insecurity

• Around 3.8 million people are currently facing severe food insecurity across the Lake Chad Basin, where the lean season has now set in in many parts. The conflict has aggravated the effects of erratic rainfall and other environmental factors that hamper good food production. Those forced to flee their homes are among the worst-affected by the rising food shortages.
• On 27 June, the government of Nigeria declared a food and nutrition emergency in Borno State.
  Alarming emergency levels of severe acute malnutrition (SAM) have been reported by UNICEF and partners in the 15 satellite camps in newly accessible areas in Borno State. These camps are in hard-toreach, insecure areas, many of them still in locations of active conflict. Humanitarian actors are working with the Government to provide the immediately required assistance.
• Malnutrition rates in Chad are alarming. Preliminary results of a screening conducted in June by WFP on 11 sites report 33 per cent of MAM and 11.5 per cent of SAM among children under two - well above emergency thresholds of 15 per cent for MAM and 2 per cent for SAM. From 1 to 15 June, WFP provided assistance to over 37,000 displaced people in these 11 sites, and 3,200 children received a malnutrition prevention ration.