ICRC distributes items to 27, 000 IDPs in Borno

The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) has distributed relief materials to 27, 000 persons displaced in the ongoing armed conflicts in Borno state.

ICRC’s Communication Officer, Sadiq Umar, said this on Tuesday in a statement in Maiduguri, the Borno state capital.

He said the items were distributed to the more than 4, 300 households with an estimated population of 27, 000 people, adding that the beneficiaries were taking refuge at Monguno, headquarters of Monguno Local Government Area.

Umar disclosed that the affected families fled their homes, leaving behind their personal belongings and took shelter in the over 12 Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) camps in the area and listed the items distributed to include mats, blankets, dresses, solar lamps, cooking equipment and hygiene kits among others.

The communication officer emphasised that the gesture was to assist the IDPs to meet their basic needs, just as the statement quoted the ICRC’s Economic Security Field Officer in Monguno, Sadiq Ahmed, as saying that “the affected families fled the violence, leaving everything behind them.

‘‘We have provided support to 4, 392 families, to allow them to cover their basic needs. There are currently more than a dozen IDP camps in Monguno, all of which are over-stretched.

“Since December 2018, we witnessed huge influx of IDPs, mostly from Kukawa Local Government Area of the state. They were forced out of their homes due to the hostilities and are in a dire situation.”

Ahmed added that the organisation also constructed 2, 000 family shelters in some of the camps as well as supported health facilities in the area.

A beneficiary at the Fulatari IDP camp, Musa Haruna, said that “for months, our people have been subjected to a lot of sufferings, most of them without a single mat to put their heads on.”