UN sympathises with victims, demands probe

The UN has expressed regrets over Tuesday’s accidental airstrike on an internally displaced persons camp in Rann, Borno, and called for full investigation into it.

The UN also called for greater measures to protect civilians in the areas of military operations against the destructive Boko Haram insurgents, according to a statement issued by the Office of the UN Secretary-General.

“UN humanitarian officials are also questioning how a military airstrike ended up striking the displacement camp.

“Intermingled with messages of sympathy and solidarity with the victims, UN agencies called for a full investigation and greater measures to protect civilians going forward.”

The Head of the UN Refugee Agency, Filippo Grandi, who met with Nigerian refugees in Borno in Dec. 2016, called the airstrike “a truly catastrophic event.”

Grandi, therefore, “called for a full accounting so that the causes are known and measures put in place to ensure this does not happen again.”

The Nigerian Government has announced that it would investigate the airstrike, it said.

In its message, the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF), stressed the importance of protecting civilians in complex humanitarian emergencies.

“UNICEF stands in solidarity with our humanitarian colleagues, and the dangerous conditions they work in.

“The aid workers who lost their lives were working to save others,” UNICEF Director for Emergency Programmes, Manuel Fontaine, said.

Amid outpouring of sympathy, UN emergency responders have continued to aid the bombed Nigerian camp, it said.

“United Nations humanitarian helicopter and emergency medical personnel are in north-eastern Nigeria following a military airstrike that hit a displacement camp killing dozens of people, including aid workers, and wounding a reported 100 others.

“The UN Humanitarian Air Service (UNHAS), airlifted eight Nigerian Red Cross workers from the camp in Rann as part of the emergency responses.”

The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), also said the response included nearly 900 lbs of emergency medical supplies.

“The Nigerian army also deployed a medical team and ‘is working with humanitarian partners to ensure maximum support to the affected people’,” OCHA reported.

It said the camp was located in Rann, which had been under the control of the group Boko Haram for the past several years, and out of reach to aid workers.

Around 43,000 people are estimated to be internally displaced and struggle with food shortages as a result of the fighting and bad roads.

Edward Kallon, the UN Resident Coordinator and Humanitarian Coordinator for Nigeria, had called the airstrike “an unfortunate tragedy that befell people already suffering.”