ABUJA, Nigeria, Sept. 18 (UPI) -- The African director of the International Committee of the Red Cross said he was working with West African partners to protect civilians from violence.
The ICRC and Economic Community of West African States hosted a seminar in Nigeria to discuss regional progress made in international humanitarian law.
ECOWAS last year played a key role in working to settle issues in Mali, a country divided when terrorists and foreign rebels seized territory following a military coup in 2012.
Adrienne Diop, ECOWAS director of human development and gender, said Wednesday the focus of the annual seminar was the role of non-state actors.
Al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb is one of the groups active in Mali and the greater Sahel region south of the Sahara Desert. Boko Haram is suspected of committing war crimes in parts of northern Nigeria.
In June, the ICRC said there were nearly 24,000 people displaced by conflict in Mali who are in need of some form of humanitarian assistance.
"Too often, civilians continue to bear the brunt of armed violence," Yasmine Praz-Dessimoz, the ICRC's head of operations for North and West Africa, said in a statement. "As the guardian and promoter of international humanitarian law, the ICRC encourages discussion to better protect civilians amid armed conflict or other violence."
