Minister of Foreign Affairs Ine Eriksen Søreide announced this contribution in Berlin at the high-level conference on the crisis in the Lake Chad region, which Norway is co-hosting with Germany, Nigeria and the UN. The conference (Oslo II) is a follow-up of the humanitarian high-level conference on Nigeria and the Lake Chad region that was held in Oslo in 2017.
‘More than 10 million people are in need of humanitarian aid in the Lake Chad region. It is crucial that more resources are made available and that safe humanitarian access is secured in order to save lives and protect civilians from violence and abuse. Women, children and young people are the most severely affected. The Government will continue its engagement in the region, and is providing NOK 325 million for humanitarian efforts in the period 2018 to 2020,’ Ms Eriksen Søreide said.
The crisis is affecting a region that extends across northeastern Nigeria and parts of Niger, Chad and Cameroon.
‘It is important to ensure good coordination between humanitarian aid, long-term development cooperation, conflict resolution and peacebuilding, as outlined in Norway’s new humanitarian strategy. The Government will continue to provide a high level of development assistance in the Lake Chad region, and will ensure that these efforts are closely coordinated with the humanitarian response,’ said Ms Eriksen Søreide.
(MFA-Norway)
