Senior UN official appeals to donors to aid 53,000 displaced by attacks on Lake Chad islands

10 December 2015 - More than 50,000 people forced to flee in the wake of attacks on islands of Lake Chad are living in "precarious conditions" in need of food, drinking water, shelter, health care and other services in a situation exacerbated by chronic drought, the top United Nations relief official in Chad says.

"A rapid funding of assistance is necessary to avoid a degradation of the situation, in a context of chronic drought and drying of Lake Chad, which impact on the peoples' livelihoods," said Stephen Tull, the UN Humanitarian Coordinator in Chad, who met this week with the displaced people in one of the 15 camps hosting them in the region.

Mr. Tull described one of the most recent attacks as "a massive violation of human rights and of international humanitarian law."

The Lake Chad crisis struck in a general context of chronic vulnerability, affecting the livelihoods of local and displaced people - the majority of whom are fishermen, farmers, and pastoralists, according to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).

To address the humanitarian needs of the people of the Lake Chad region, some $22.5 million has already been mobilized, which represents 38 per cent of the total amount required, according to OCHA. Since July 2015, most displaced people have received at least a one-month's food ration. Latrines and boreholes are covering 45 per cent of water needs and 23 per cent of sanitation.

Despite these efforts, the more than 53,000 internally displaced persons (IDPs) who fled the Lake's islands still need food, drinking water, shelter, health care, protection and education, OCHA reported.

Mr. Tull called on donors to support the United Nations Humanitarian Air Service, a vital lifeline to strengthen operations capacities.

"The situation in the Lake shows that it is essential to integrate humanitarian action and development, in support of the Government," he said.

He described the 5 December attacks which hit Koulfoua island, reportedly killing over 30 people and wounding at least 120 others, "as a massive violation of human rights and of international humanitarian law."

Lake Chad straddles the borders of Chad, Niger and Cameroon in West Africa, and has been a source of freshwater for irrigation projects in each of these countries. Since 1963, the lake has shrunk to nearly a 20th of its original size, due both to climatic changes and to high demands for agricultural water, according to the UN Environment Programme (UNEP).