UNITED NATIONS, July 24 (Xinhua) -- The West Africa and the Sahel's UN envoy on Wednesday called on the governments to redouble their efforts in defining a concerted approach to prevent a further expansion of the terrorist threat in the region.
Speaking at the Security Council semi-annual briefing on West Africa and the Sahel, the special representative of UN secretary-general for the region Mohamed Ibn Chambas said that the region recently has witnessed an even more visible and significant rise in violent attacks directly related to violent extremism.
Chambas said that the security situation remains volatile in the entire Sahel, where escalating violence and insecurity have sparked an unprecedented humanitarian crisis, leaving a total of 5.1 million Burkinabe, Nigeriens and Malians in need.
According to Chambas, in Burkina Faso, a total of 226 security incidents contributed to an accelerated displacement from 47,000 in December 2018 up to 220,000 internally displaced people and more than 25,000 refugees in June 2019, representing an almost five-fold increase.
Chambas said the past six months has shown a rapid deterioration of the security situation in Burkina Faso.
The north and east of the country remain the most affected by recurrent attacks of terrorist and armed groups as well as an increase in inter-communal violence with the involvement of seemingly uncontrolled self-defense groups, said Chambas.
Terrorist groups are furthermore directly targeting schools and forcing health centers to close, he said, adding that a total of 2,024 schools and 37 health centers remain closed today in Burkina Faso as a direct effect of this crisis.
While talking about the situation in the Lake Chad Basin, he said that attacks by Boko Haram splinter groups continue to threaten the peace and stability of the region.
In 2009, Boko Haram militants launched an insurgency with the goal of establishing an Islamic caliphate in northern Nigeria. Over 27,000 people were killed in the country's northeast as a result of the conflict, according to media reports.
As for now, Chambas said that although the first half of 2019 has recorded 30 suicide bombers, a 70 percent reduction compared to last year, recently Boko Haram fighters killed 23 soldiers in Dangdala and it was the deadliest attack to date on Chadian military.
The terrorist group also attempted to launch a rocket attack on the airport in Diffa and led seemingly more sophisticated terrorist attacks in other parts of Niger, he said. As of June, at least 147 civilians have been kidnapped in Niger's Diffa region, the highest number since 2015.
In view of this rapid escalation, including growing linkages in the region between terrorism, organized crime and inter-community clashes, the heads of state of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) decided to hold a summit on terrorism in Ouagadougou in September.
It aims at discussing a concerted security approach for West Africa and the Sahel and represents a unique window of opportunity to harmonize the fragmented security arrangements, Chambas said.
He urged governments and partners to redouble their efforts in defining a concerted approach to prevent a further expansion of the terrorist threat and foster support to much-needed medium and long-term stabilization measures aligned to UN Integrated Strategy for the Sahel.
