Northeast Nigeria: Humanitarian emergency - Situation Report No. 4 (as of 31 January 2017)

Highlights

• Nigerian military aircraft on 17 January accidentally bombed a settlement hosting internally displaced people (IDPs) in Rann, a locality in the far-east of Borno state. Ninety-eight injured people were transferred to Borno capital Maiduguri for treatment in the days following the airstrike. In Rann, 319 people were treated.

• The food security sector assisted more than 1 million people in January. Some 5.1 million people are projected to face “emergency” and “crisis” levels of food insecurity in the coming months.

• 2,731 children were treated for Severe Acute Malnutrition in January. .

• Continuous flows of IDPs into Damboa, Gwoza,
Dikwa, Konduga, Monguno, Pulka • There is a growing need for water, sanitation and health services.

Situation Overview

On 17 January, military aircraft accidentally bombed Rann, a locality in the far-east of Borno state that hosts around 35,000 IDPs. The airstrike occurred as International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) aid workers were starting to distribute food to the IDPs and Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) was vaccinating against measles and also distributing food.

An emergency medical evacuation mobilized soon after the incident, in which six Nigerian Red Cross aid workers were killed. It involved the UN Humanitarian Air Service (UNHAS) and military helicopters. According to various sources, more than 100 people were killed in the bombing. Ninety-eight people were evacuated to Maiduguri in the four-day operation, according to ICRC, whose surgical team performed 78 operations in Maiduguri hospitals and treated 107 injured people in Rann.

MSF treated around 150 patients in Rann, 80 of whom needed life-saving care on the day of the bombing. They also supported the ICRC medical evacuations and their medical personnel accompanied some patients during airlifts. They also treated a further 62 patients in Rann on subsequent days.

Aid groups expressed shock at the incident and called for better civilian protection and respect of humanitarian space.