ABUJA, Nigeria, Feb. 6 (UPI) -- Mounting security challenges in Nigeria is making it difficult for civilians to meet their most basic needs, ICRC regional delegate Zoran Jovanovic said.
The International Committee of the Red Cross said it was working with the Nigerian Red Crescent Society to provide assistance to the estimated 40,000 people in Nigeria displaced by conflict.
"Violence, lack of security and growing anxiety over recent months has resulted in tens of thousands of people fleeing the conflict in the north-east of the country," Jovanovic, head of the ICRC delegation in Nigeria, said in a statement Wednesday. "The availability of shelter, food, water, clothes and health services has worsened in that region."
Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan imposed a state of emergency over parts of the country in response to the Boko Haram threat last year
Boko Haram was accused of killing more than 100 people in villages in northern Nigeria in recent days. Violence in the region prompted the British Foreign and Commonwealth Office to issue a travel alert warning of likelihood of violence in northeastern Nigerian states.
"The tenuous security situation, combined with communication disruptions, has made it difficult for family members to maintain contact with one another, and also for aid to be delivered," Jovanovic said.
