BRUSSELS, 19 January 2017 / PRN Africa / -- The European Commission has announced additional humanitarian aid of €40 million to help the populations in the Lake Chad basin. The crisis in the region is escalating and humanitarian needs are growing rapidly.

The European Commission has released €40 million in additional humanitarian aid to support the populations in the Lake Chad region in Africa. The funding brings the overall EU humanitarian aid package for the region to over €116 million since the beginning of 2016 until now.

It will help scale up operations and respond to most urgent humanitarian needs, notably in the areas of food, nutrition, water and sanitation, health and protection.

"The EU is making a strong humanitarian contribution for the most vulnerable for those in Nigeria, Cameroon, Niger and Chad. The humanitarian situation in this fragile region is reaching extremely worrying proportions. The difficult security situation and lack of access to certain areas severely hamper the capacity of relief organisations to assist. Today I am announcing new EU support to urgently address the increasingly pressing needs. Everything must be done so that our humanitarian partners can deliver lifesaving assistance safely and rapidly to those in dire need," saidCommissioner for Humanitarian Aid and Crisis Management Christos Stylianides.

With nearly 2 million internally displaced and struggling with an ongoing economic crisis, Nigeria is the country worst affected and will receive the biggest part of the assistance (€22 million). Besides Nigeria, Cameroon (€7 million), Niger (€6 million) and Chad (€5 million) will also benefit from the emergency aid package.

The European Commission helps provide humanitarian aid to local, host and displaced populations in the region helping to cover the most urgent needs

Background

The crisis in the Lake Chad has been escalating. Violence inflicted by the terrorist group Boko Haram from northern Nigeria has destabilised the entire region and caused large scale displacements of people. There is a high scarcity of food in the region and access to basic services is severely limited. The risk of epidemics due to the lack of water, sanitation, shelter and health services is extremely high.

The crisis affecting the Lake Chad basin, including Nigeria, Cameroon, Chad and Niger has greatly escalated over the past two years. Some 2.6 million people in the region are currently internally displaced, while 169 000 have sought refuge in neighbouring countries. Both host and local communities are highly dependent on humanitarian assistance. The most vulnerable households are struggling to find food.

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SOURCE European Commission