Tens of thousands of people have fled their homes in northeast Nigeria after an increase in violence in the Boko Haram conflict, the United Nations said on Wednesday. “More than 30,000 internally displaced people (IDPs) have arrived in Maiduguri, mainly from Baga, in recent weeks,” said the UN’s humanitarian coordinator in Nigeria, Edward Kallon. Fighters from the self-styled Islamic State West Africa Province faction of Boko Haram overran two military bases in and around the fishing town on late December. – Election issue –Nigeria’s President Muhammadu Buhari said in December 2015 that Boko Haram was “technically defeated” after a sustained counter-insurgency by Nigerian and regional troops. On December 14, the military said it had suspended the UN children’s fund UNICEF from operating in the northeast because it was training “spies” supporting Boko Haram.

Source: Egypt Independent January 10, 2019 08:37 UTC