Lake Chad crisis in focus as UN panel visits

UN Security Council envoys yesterday travelled to Africa’s Lake Chad region, where famine, the Boko Haram insurgency, climate change and poor governance have collided to create one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises.

The 15 ambassadors from the UN’s top decision-making body hope to draw global attention to the emergency affecting 21 million people across four countries: Nigeria, Chad, Cameroon and Niger.

The visit could also pave the way to stronger action by the Security Council to address what has been a largely ignored crisis, relegated to the bottom of the diplomatic agenda as war in Syria and South Sudan escalated.

Global attention

British Ambassador Matthew Rycroft said the visit will “shine a spotlight of international attention on the humanitarian crisis” at a time when donors are asked to come up with new financing for the region.

The crisis has been “largely overlooked” and the Security Council was “perhaps a bit slow off the mark in tackling the threat of Boko Haram,” Rycroft said.