Lake Chad Complex Emergency Fact Sheet #26 FY2017

September 30, 2017

Highlights

• Persistent conflict continues to undermine agricultural production and contribute to food insecurity in the Lake Chad Basin.
• Health officials record additional cholera cases in northeastern Nigeria, raising the total to more than 4,200 suspected and confirmed cases, including 57 related deaths.
• Advocacy report indicates that GoRC soldiers abused and exploited Nigerian asylum seekers and refugees in Cameroon

KEY DEVELOPMENTS

Ongoing conflict could hinder staple crop harvests in Cameroon, despite forecasts of favorable agroclimatic conditions, according to the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO). To respond to food insecurity in Cameroon’s Far North Region, USAID/FFP recently contributed an additional $5 million to the UN World Food Program (WFP), allowing the provision of full food rations to refugees in the region.

Persistent violence, poor food security conditions, and ongoing bureaucratic impediments continued to result in humanitarian needs that outpaced available resources in FY 2017. The U.S. Government (USG) provided more than $515 million in relief assistance for the Lake Chad Basin humanitarian response in FY 2017, bringing the total USG funding for the emergency to nearly $730.6 million from FY 2016–2017.

As of September 29, Borno State Ministry of Health (SMoH) officials had recorded more than 4,200 suspected and confirmed cholera cases, including 57 related deaths, in five local government areas (LGAs) in northeastern Nigeria since the outbreak began in mid-August. Relief actors continue to provide health and water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) assistance and recently concluded a vaccination campaign.

According to a recent Human Rights Watch (HRW) report, Nigerian refugees sheltering in a Cameroonian camp have experienced abuse and inhumane treatment by Government of the Republic of Cameroon (GoRC) soldiers, in addition to poor living conditions. The soldiers also reportedly exploited Nigerian asylum seekers in remote areas near the Cameroon–Nigeria border. HRW interviewed more than 60 Nigerian asylum seekers and refugees from June–July and met with stakeholders to collect data for the report.

REGIONAL

A recent HRW report found that GoRC soldiers abused, arbitrarily detained, and extorted refugees living in Cameroon’s Minawao refugee camp located in Far North’s Mayo-Tsanaga Department. Refugees interviewed for the report described the severe assaults GoRC soldiers inflicted on camp inhabitants, some of which resulted in death. Refugees also noted restricted freedom of movement and poor living conditions in the camp, including significant food shortages beginning in 2015 and a lack of safe drinking water. Nigerian asylum seekers who did not obtain refugee status and therefore sheltered in remote border regions experienced similar abuses by GoRC soldiers, in addition to sexual exploitation in exchange for food and protection from deportation. HRW conducted interviews with more than 60 Nigerian asylum seekers and refugees from June 23–July 5 to collect information on humanitarian conditions within and outside of Minawao refugee camp to inform the report. HRW also met with representatives from the governments of Cameroon and Nigeria and relief agencies to compile the information summarized in the September report.

At least 33,000 Nigerian asylum seekers were living in villages near Minawao camp with limited access to relief assistance as of late June and were facing significant protection risks. According to the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), GoRC authorities began blocking asylum seekers at the Cameroon–Nigeria border in early June, stating that the camp had reached maximum capacity. Since May 2015, the Minawao camp population has exceeded its maximum capacity of 20,000 people. UNHCR reports that GoRC officials have repeatedly rejected UNHCR proposals to establish an additional camp for Nigerian refugees.

UNHCR continues to monitor displaced person returns through Borno’s border towns of Banki, Damask, and Ngala to places of origin in the northeast. UNHCR reported that the Nigeria Immigration Service registered the return of approximately 218,500 Nigerian refugees—who had previously sought shelter in Cameroon, Chad, or Niger—to northeastern Nigeria between January and August, bringing the total number of refugee returnees in the area to more than 360,000 since 2015. UNHCR notes that while some returns from Cameroon appeared forced, the majority of returns were spontaneous and occurred following improved security conditions in areas of return.

UN Under-Secretary-General and Emergency and Relief Coordinator (ERC) Mark Lowcock met with stakeholders in Nigeria’s Borno State and Niger’s conflict-affected Diffa Region from September 9–12. ERC Lowcock emphasized that humanitarian actors must continue relief efforts to minimize the risk of Famine—IPC 5—levels of acute food insecurity in the region; safeguard displaced and vulnerable populations from abduction, gender-based violence (GBV), and other protection concerns; and support peace and development to promote long-term solutions to the crisis.4

NIGERIA

Borno SMoH officials recorded more than 4,200 suspected and confirmed cholera cases, including 57 related deaths, in Borno’s Dikwa, Jere, Mafa, Maiduguri Metropolitan Council, and Monguno LGAs between mid-August and late September. More than 80 percent of the cases originated in Jere and Monguno. While the current case fatality rate (CFR) of 1.3 percent represents a decline since mid-September, the rate continues to exceed the UN World Health Organization (WHO) emergency threshold of 1 percent.

Health and WASH actors continue to respond to cholera-related needs in Borno, with relief agencies operating four cholera treatment centers and 13 oral rehydration points across the state. In recent days, humanitarian organizations delivered approximately 210,000 liters of safe drinking water, chlorinated nearly 9,700 water sources, cleaned and disinfected more than 4,200 latrines and shelters, and distributed nearly 3,500 hygiene kits to affected populations in Borno. In addition, UNHCR recently provided 1,000 cholera-affected internally displaced person (IDP) households in Borno’s Dikwa camps with non-food relief items, including blankets, cooking pots, hygiene supplies, mattresses, mosquito nets, and water containers, as part of the response.

WHO and other health actors completed a one-week oral cholera vaccination campaign on September 25, vaccinating more than 844,300 people in Borno. Relief actors completed a smaller, focused vaccination campaign in Mafa, reaching nearly 35,000 people living in a high-risk community in the LGA on September 29.

Market activity has improved moderately in northeastern Nigeria compared to September 2016, according to preliminary market survey results from the USAID-funded Famine Early Warning Systems Network (FEWS NET) and WFP. Relatively improved security conditions in parts of the region contributed to population returns and increased economic activity, resulting in additional household demand for goods in large parts of Adamawa and Yobe states, as well as in some areas of Borno. Local markets remain fragile, however, as staple food prices continue to exceed average levels. In addition, traders cite residual insecurity and limited access to capital and credit as significant constraints that have resulted in supply shortages and limited market activity.

Between September 1–15, WFP and its partners dispatched 8,000 metric tons (MT) of food to nearly 480,000 people across northeastern Nigeria, which included providing nutritious food to approximately 51,000 children and 50,000 pregnant or lactating women.

In total, USAID/FFP partners reached more than 1.3 million beneficiaries in Adamawa, Borno, and Yobe with food assistance in August. In areas with functioning markets, USAID/FFP partners distributed cash and food vouchers to displaced persons and host community members, increasing households’ access to food while bolstering local markets and contributing to dietary diversity. In areas with poorly functioning markets, USAID/FFP partners provided in-kind food items procured from Nigerian, regional, and U.S. stockpiles to populations in need. In addition, FFP support enabled partners to conduct nutrition screenings, distribute specialized nutrition products to vulnerable populations, and treat children experiencing acute malnutrition throughout FY 2017.

USAID/FFP contributed nearly $250.1 million in FY 2017 to support partners, including non-governmental organizations (NGOs), the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF), and WFP, responding to urgent food and nutrition needs in northeastern Nigeria. USAID/OFDA also provided approximately $8 million in FY 2017 to support partners’ agriculture and livelihoods activities, as well as economic recovery and market systems (ERMS) assistance, in the region.

USAID partner UNICEF admitted nearly 8,200 children experiencing severe acute malnutrition (SAM) for therapeutic treatment services in Adamawa and Yobe from September 1–15. As of mid-September, UNICEF had provided nearly 119,000 children with SAM treatment since January. UNICEF also distributed micronutrient powders to more than 1,700 children and provided counseling on infant and young child feeding practices to approximately 7,000 caretakers.

Between August 2016 and August 2017, USAID/OFDA partner WHO implemented its disease Early Warning Alert Response System in nearly 240 sites across Borno, reaching approximately 1.3 million people with disease surveillance coverage. During the same period, WHO utilized mobile health teams to deliver health care services in remote areas, screening more than 400,000 individuals and treating approximately 83,000 people in need of medical services. In addition, WHO provided nutrition support to approximately 400,000 children in northeastern Nigeria who were experiencing SAM.

In FY 2017, USAID/OFDA contributed nearly $29.5 million to NGO partners, as well as UNICEF and WHO, to provide essential medicines; rehabilitate health facilities damaged from the conflict; and support quality health services and nutrition assistance for vulnerable populations in northeastern Nigeria.

An August 12–18 UNHCR assessment evaluated the camp coordination and camp management of five sites hosting nearly 4,400 individuals in Adamawa, more than 20 sites hosting approximately 317,500 people in Borno, and 13 sites hosting more than 17,700 people in Yobe. UNHCR found a lack of adequate shelter, medical facilities, and WASH services across the displacement sites in the three states. For example, UNHCR reported that 100 percent of the sites assessed in Adamawa lacked adequate medical facilities services, while services were recorded as inadequate in 87 percent of Borno facility sites and 69 percent of Yobe sites. UNHCR also found a need for increased humanitarian presence in Yobe, where nearly 70 percent of the sites assessed—including camps, host communities, and settlements—did not have a humanitarian presence.

UNICEF provided child protection services to nearly 16,400 children and 60 women from September 1–15, bringing the total number of beneficiaries reached in northeastern Nigeria to nearly 127,700 to date in 2017. UNICEF also reached more than 1,000 beneficiaries during the same period with community dialogue and peer-to-peer sessions with female survivors of sexual and GBV and conflict-related sexual violence due to the Boko Haram insurgency.

USAID/OFDA contributed more than $8.8 million in FY 2017 to support NGO and UN partners, including UNICEF, in providing psychosocial support and case management services to children in northeastern Nigeria, including unaccompanied and separated children, as well as protection services to survivors of GBV. In total, USAID/OFDA provided more than $110.3 million to support relief activities for the humanitarian emergency response in northeastern Nigeria.

In FY 2017, State/PRM provided $15.8 million to support UNHCR in providing protection support and multi-sector assistance to IDP and returnee populations in northeastern Nigeria, bringing State/PRM’s total funding to Nigeria in FY 2017 to $36.7 million.

CAMEROON

As of September 22, approximately 90,000 Nigerian refugees were sheltering in northern Cameroon, including more than 58,000 refugees located in Minawao refugee camp, UNHCR reports. IDPs, host community members, and refugees in Far North face chronic vulnerabilities, limited access to basic social services, and worsening insecurity, resulting in high levels of food insecurity and malnutrition and an elevated risk of disease outbreak, the UN reports.

Although current agroclimatic conditions in Cameroon’s northern regions are favorable for crop production, insecurity could undermine harvests of millet and sorghum, which FAO expects to begin in October. Ongoing conflict, population displacement, and diminished household assets will likely contribute to a third consecutive year of reduced agricultural production in northern Cameroon, FAO reports.

USAID/FFP recently provided WFP with an additional $5 million to support food voucher programs and the provision of locally and regionally procured food assistance, bringing USAID/FFP’s total funding to WFP in FY 2017 to approximately $17.2 million. As a result of this contribution, WFP was able to resume the distribution of full food rations—consisting of cereals, oils, and salt—for all refugees in Minawao camp. This increase in food assistance marks the first time in several months that refugees in the region received a full portion of WFP food rations, the UN reports.

USAID/FFP also contributed $3 million in FY 2017 to an NGO partner working in Far North’s Logone-et-Chari and Mayo-Sava departments to provide cash transfers for food, cash-for-work opportunities, and complementary nutrition education activities to approximately 31,200 host community members and IDPs. The cash-for-work programming complements OFDA-supported WASH activities by providing cash assistance to beneficiaries who are rehabilitating critical sanitation infrastructure. In total, USAID/FFP contributed more than $20 million in FY 2017 to assist food-insecure populations in Far North.

USAID/OFDA provided more than $5.5 million to support NGO partners in delivering relief assistance through agriculture and livelihood, ERMS, health, logistics, protection, and WASH activities to populations in need in Far North. USAID/OFDA also contributed $1.9 million to UN agencies, including the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) and the UN Humanitarian Air Service (UNHAS), to provide humanitarian coordination and information management (HCIM) assistance for relief actors and support logistics operations for the transportation and delivery of critical humanitarian supplies to conflict-affected populations in Cameroon.

In addition, State/PRM provided more than $4.7 million in FY 2017 to International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) to provide multi-sector and protection assistance to conflict-affected populations in Cameroon. State/PRM also contributed approximately $2 million in FY 2017 to support NGO and UN partners in conducting GBV response and prevention activities; improving logistical operations and delivery of relief commodities; and providing education, health, protection, shelter, and WASH services for vulnerable populations in Far North.

CHAD

FEWS NET predicts that households in Chad’s Lac Region will experience Stressed—IPC 2—levels of food insecurity until January 2018, provided that the current level of food assistance continues. However, without humanitarian assistance, poor households in Lac will likely experience Crisis—IPC 3—levels of acute food insecurity between October 2017 and January 2018.

In August, WFP distributed emergency food assistance to approximately 8,500 Nigerian refugees and 100,000 IDPs in Chad. To complement the delivery of emergency food rations, WFP also supported activities to prevent acute malnutrition for approximately 10,500 children ages 6–23 months.

USAID/FFP recently contributed $4.2 million to bolster WFP operations assisting food-insecure populations in Lac. The additional funding supports the distribution of cash-based transfers for food and more than 2,000 MT of regionally procured food, bringing USAID/FFP’s total emergency food assistance funding for populations in Lac to more than $10 million in FY 2017.

USAID/OFDA contributed more than $5.9 million in FY 2017 to support the humanitarian operations of NGO and UN partners in Lac. The funding supported interventions to enhance agricultural livelihoods and food security conditions, improve WASH infrastructure and practices, and increase access to and quality of health care, nutrition, and protection services. The funding also enhanced logistical support for the delivery of relief commodities to affected population in the region.

In addition, State/PRM contributed $585,000 in FY 2017 to UNICEF to provide education, health, protection, shelter, and WASH assistance to populations in Lac. State/PRM also contributed nearly $2.1 million to ICRC in FY 2017 to support multi-sector and protection activities for conflict-affected populations in Chad.

NIGER

In September 2017, OCHA released a Revised Requirement and Response Priorities report for the Lake Chad Basin emergency, which increased the number of people requiring humanitarian assistance to 408,000 individuals due to worsening food insecurity in Diffa. The updated figure represents an increase of 20 percent compared to the 340,000 people identified in the February Humanitarian Needs and Requirement Overview. FEWS NET projects that Crisis levels of acute food insecurity will persist until at least January 2018 in parts of Diffa due to conflict and resultant population displacement, exacerbating humanitarian needs in Niger.

USAID/FFP recently contributed $7.8 million to WFP to distribute cash-based transfers for the purchase of food and dispatch nearly 7,500 MT of locally and regionally procured food to vulnerable populations in Diffa. In addition, USAID/FFP provided $2.5 million in FY 2017 to an NGO partner to reach more than 23,000 vulnerable displaced individuals and host community members in Diffa with monthly electronic vouchers for food. In FY 2017, USAID/FFP funding toward emergency food assistance activities in Diffa totaled to more than $25 million.

From January to mid-September, health authorities recorded more than 1,800 suspected and confirmed cases of hepatitis E, including 38 related deaths, the UN reports. Health authorities had reported a CFR of 2 percent as of September 13, which is a decrease compared to the 2.4 percent CFR recorded in mid-August. Nearly 70 percent of the caseload originated in Diffa along the Niger–Nigeria border. USAID/OFDA partners continue to provide WASH assistance, including distribution of hygiene kits and installation of latrines, for affected communities in Diffa. In FY 2017, USAID/OFDA provided nearly $355,000 to an NGO partner to support health activities, including providing medical commodities to people in need and training for medical staff and health care workers in Diffa.

In addition to health funding, USAID/OFDA contributed approximately $8 million in FY 2017 to NGO and UN partners to improve agricultural production and livelihoods, HCIM, logistical operations, provision of protection and shelter services, and WASH infrastructure and practices for populations in Diffa.

In FY 2017, State/PRM provided nearly $24.9 million to the International Organization for Migration (IOM), UN agencies, and other relief partners provide child protection, education, health, logistics support and relief commodities, protection, shelter, and WASH services to people in need in Diffa, as well as multi-sector assistance to IDPs and returnees in Niger. In addition to its contributions in FY 2017 to support its partners in providing emergency relief assistance to populations Niger, State/PRM continued humanitarian diplomacy efforts to advocate for the protection needs of affected populations and responsibility of regional governments to uphold international humanitarian law principles during emergency relief responses.

OTHER HUMANITARIAN ASSISTANCE

As of September 29, international donors had contributed approximately $669.2 million, or nearly 64 percent of the appeal, to the Nigeria Humanitarian Fund—a country-based pooled fund managed by OCHA—to support life-saving operations in northeastern Nigeria in 2017.