Doctors without Borders, the French charitable organisation also known as Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF), has lamented that insecurity in the north east of Nigeria has put more than a million Nigerians at risk and made them unreachable to humanitarian workers. The organisation made this claim when reporting that the Boko Haram crisis had victimised many in the region.

The Mission Head of the agency in Nigeria, Luis Eguiluz, stated that people’s mobility has been limited either by the terrorists or by government in fighting the terrorists. He noted that even with his organisation’s readiness to assist those in need, MSF has a challenge because it cannot reach the needy. The areas where they are located are controlled by the Boko Haram terrorists and the Nigerian Army will not allow any humanitarian agency to go into those areas, in line with international counterterrorism laws.

However, MSF is calling on the Nigerian government to allow international humanitarian law to supersede counterterrorism laws in order to allow humanitarian access to the 1.2 million Nigerians who are in desperate need in country’s north east.

Source: VOA

Photo source: Julien Harneis