The United Nations Office at Geneva
Multimedia Newsroom
Edited News | UNHCR , UNITED NATIONS
UNOG Bi-weekly press briefing: Attack on Niger UNHCR 15 December 2020
UN Refugee Agency condemns attack on Toumour, a town in south-east Niger
In a four-hour attack on December 12th, claimed by Boko Haram, assailants destroyed much of the town of Toumour in Niger, in the vicinity of the border with Nigeria. The attackers killed at least 28 people, burned the market to the ground, and slaughtered more than a thousand cattle, according to the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR), who vigorously condemned the attack.
“UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, condemns an attack by armed assailants on Toumour, a town in south-east Niger, that killed 28 people and injured hundreds more,” said Babar Baloch, a spokesperson UNHCR at a news conference at the United Nations in Geneva. He added that “UNHCR is gravely concerned for the safety of over 30,000 refugees and internally displaced people (IDPs) who have been sheltering in Toumour”.
Toumour, a town located in the south-east of Niger, 14 kilometers from neighbouring Nigeria, hosts 20,000 Nigerian refugees, more than 8,300 IDP’s, and 3,600 returnees – all in need of humanitarian assistance.
“As of Monday morning, 14 December, our teams and partners reported that people were on the move from Toumour toward Diffa, a town some 100 kilometres away”, the UNHCR spokesperson said.
“This town is already host to 46,000 refugees, asylum seekers, displaced people, including returnees. Together with humanitarian partners and local authorities, we are organizing emergency shelter, food, water, and health support to the affected communities,” Baloch said.
UNHCR and its partners are currently providing protection and humanitarian aid to more than 265,000 forcibly displaced people including nearly 130,000 Nigerian refugees and asylum seekers, 102,726 internally displaced Nigeriens, and 34,324 returnees in the Diffa region.
The COVID-19 pandemic, so UNHCR, further complicates the response as most of the displaced are sheltering in crowded urban areas where social distancing is impossible, according to the refugee agency.
“Diffa region in south-east Niger has been hard hit by increasing extremist violence on the Lake Chad Basin that has forced hundreds of thousands into the region”, Babar Baloch said. “In the first nine months of this year, over 450 acts of killing, kidnapping, sexual and gender-based violence, and other serious incidents were reported”.
According to UNHCR, Niger continues to show generosity towards people fleeing violence in the Lake Chad and Sahel regions.
- Wide shot, exterior, Palais des Nations flag alley, nations’ flags flying, a cloudy day.
- Wide shot, press briefing room
- SOUNDBITE (English) — Babar Baloch, Spokesperson for the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR): “UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, condemns an attack by armed assailants on Toumour, a town in south-east Niger, that killed 28 people and injured hundreds more. UNHCR is gravely concerned for the safety of over 30,000 refugees and internally displaced people (IDPs) who have been sheltering in Toumour”.
- Medium shot, journalist in press room
- SOUNDBITE (English) - Babar Baloch, Spokesperson for the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR): “As of Monday morning, 14 December, our teams and partners reported that people were on the move from Toumour toward Diffa, a town some 100 kilometres away. And this town is already host to 46,000 refugees, asylum seekers, displaced people, including returnees. Together with humanitarian partners and local authorities, we are organizing emergency shelter, food, water, and health support to the affected communities”.
- Wide shot, journalists in press briefing room in front of screen
- SOUNDBITE (English) - Babar Baloch, Spokesperson for the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR): “Diffa region in south-east Niger has been hard hit by increasing extremist violence on the Lake Chad Basin that has forced hundreds of thousands into the region. In the first nine months of this year, over 450 acts of killing, kidnapping, sexual and gender-based violence, and other serious incidents were reported”.
- Wide shot, podium and large screen
- Medium shot, journalists in press briefing room
Similar Stories
1
1
1
Edited News | OCHA , UNHCR , WHO
The past two months of intensifying Israeli bombardment in Lebanon have been the “deadliest and most devastating” in decades as communities uprooted from the front line have continued to flee across the border to Syria, UN humanitarians said on Friday.
2
1
3
Edited News | UNOG
“State of Silence”: Diego Luna brings the fight to protect the press to the UN in Geneva
Mexican actor, producer and director Diego Luna has brought his fight to protect journalists all the way to the United Nations, in Geneva. Together with documentary director Santiago Masa, he is putting a spotlight on the silencing of investigative journalism in his country, and on the incredibly high price that many journalist have to pay in pursuit of truth.
1
1
1
Edited News | OHCHR , UNOG
“Today marks the grim milestone of 1,000 days since the Russian Federation launched its full-scale armed attack on Ukraine. Our Office has verified that at least 12,162 civilians have been killed since 24 February 2022, among them 659 children. At least another 26,919 civilians have been injured,” UN Human Rights spokesperson Jeremy Laurance told the bi-weekly press briefing in Geneva.
1
1
1
Edited News | OHCHR , UNOG
With COP29 in Baku now in its second - and final - week, UN Human Rights Chief Volker Türk has reiterated his call for urgent human rights-based climate action.
1
1
1
Edited News | UNIFIL , UNICEF , WHO
Lebanon: Increased violence along Blue Line and ‘horrific new normal’ for children
In southern Lebanon, peacekeepers have witnessed “shocking” destruction of villages along the Blue Line and ever-deeper Israeli ground incursions, while the situation of children across the country is becoming increasingly desperate, the UN said on Tuesday.
2
1
2
Press Conferences , Edited News | UNRWA
The head of the UN agency for Palestine refugees, UNRWA, confirmed on Monday that a large convoy of humanitarian aid was looted inside Gaza at the weekend, amid a near-total a breakdown in law and order and harassment of the agency’s staff by Israeli soldiers.
1
1
1
Edited News | OCHA
In the nearly 1,000 days since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, thousands of civilians have been killed, the country’s energy infrastructure is on the brink and drones terrify communities on the front line, the UN’s top aid official in the country said on Friday.
2
1
2
Press Conferences , Edited News | OHCHR
Mexican actor, producer and director Diego Luna took a break from the big screen on Thursday to highlight the dangers faced by journalists in his country and beyond, condemning murders of reporters everywhere as “a scandal”.
1
1
1
Edited News | UNRWA
Gaza: ‘People are losing hope’ as aid access is refused to north, warns UNRWA
Besieged northern Gaza is a place of dead bodies lying in the streets and hospitals running out of blood packs – a situation that’s “nothing short of catastrophic”, the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) said on Tuesday.
1
1
1
Edited News | OHCHR
UN Human Rights Spokesperson Jeremy Laurence & Ajith Sunghay, Head of UN Human Rights Office in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, on Gaza
1
1
1
Edited News | UNHCR
Sudan’s displaced have endured “unimaginable suffering” in their search for shelter from the country’s ongoing war, UN humanitarians warned on Friday.
1
1
1
Edited News | WHO
‘Exceptional achievement’: Humanitarians reach over 105,000 with polio vaccine in north Gaza
Despite ongoing attacks and access challenges, humanitarians have managed to inoculate over 105,000 children in north Gaza with the second and final dose of the oral polio vaccine, the UN World Health Organization (WHO) said on Tuesday.