Boko Haram: US Spends $24.7 Million For Humanitarian Support

The United States government yesterday said it has so far spent about $24.7 million in support of essential humanitarian aid to refugees, internally displaced persons, and other populations of concern impacted by Boko Haram-engendered conflicts in Cameroon, Chad, Niger and Nigeria.

Briefing White House correspondents in Washington DC, spokesperson of the US Department of State, Ms. Jen Psaki, added that the aid included support for protection, food, agriculture, and livelihoods, health, humanitarian coordination and water sanitation and hygiene assistance.

The United States official further revealed that the Barrack Obama-led government would release more funds to further assist the victims.

“We are committed-we continue to assess and are committed to doing more. There is, as you know, a multinational joint task force that we also continue to support,” she said.

In a related development, the United Nations secretary-general, Mr Ban Ki Moon, has warned leaders against discarding moral compasses and giving into fear in the fight against terrorism.

Mr Ban who was in Washington D.C. for a summit hosted by the United States on countering violent extremism, called for cool heads and common sense in dealing with what may very well be the greatest test the human race faces in the 21st century.

“Let there be no doubt,” Mr Ban proclaimed to a room full of high-level delegates including US Secretary of State, John Kerry, “the emergence of a new generation of transnational terrorist groups including Da’esh (or the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant) and Boko Haram is a grave threat to international peace and security.”

Among those joining Mr Ban on the panel of the White House summit on ‘Countering Violent Extremism’ were US deputy national security adviser, Tony Blinken, deputy director of the US National Counterterrorism Center, Nicholas Rasmussen, French Interior minister, Bernard Cazeneuve, Jordanian minister of Foreign Affairs, Nasser Judeh, Professor at London’s King’s College, Peter Neumann, and commissioner for Peace and Security at the African Union, SmaïlChergui.

In his address, the Secretary-General said no cause or grievance could justify the “unspeakable horrors” that terrorist groups are carrying out against innocent people, majority of whom are Muslims. Women and girls, he added, are particularly subject to systemic abuses – rape, kidnapping, forced marriage and sexual slavery.

“These extremists are pursuing a deliberate strategy of shock and awe- beheadings, burnings, and snuff films designed to polarise and terrorise, and provoke and divide us,” the UN chief added, commending UN member states for their political will to defeat terrorist groups and at the same time, urging them to stay “mindful of the pitfalls.”

“Many years of our experience have proven that short-sighted policies, failed leadership and an utter disregard for human dignity and human rights have causes tremendous frustration and anger on the part of people who we serve,” the UN chief said. (Leadership)