Disappearance Of Lake Chad Year's Most Neglected Crisis; 8 Million On The Brink Of Starvation
LONDON, Dec 22 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - The humanitarian catastrophe in Lake Chad basin, where conflict has left over 8 million people destitute with many "teetering on the brink of famine", was the most neglected crisis in 2016, according to a survey of aid agencies.
Following Lake Chad in a Thomson Reuters Foundation poll of 19 leading aid groups were Yemen, where children are starving, and South Sudan where U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon fears genocide is about to start.
Overshadowed by the wars in Syria and Iraq and the global refugee and migrant crisis, Lake Chad barely made the headlines this year, but aid organisations said the crisis was "on an epic scale" with "terrifying rates of child malnutrition".
"Syria broke my heart, but for out and out human suffering and almost zero media coverage, the food crisis sparked by Boko Haram in Nigeria and Niger was the pits," said Suzanna Tkalec, humanitarian director at Caritas.
Boko Haram militants have displaced 2.4 million people across Nigeria, Cameroon, Chad and Niger during a seven-year campaign to create an Islamist caliphate. Oxfam said parts of northern Nigeria were already experiencing famine and Action Against Hunger warned many children were at risk of dying.
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http://news.trust.org/item/20161222000534-wtnk7/