Roundup: Boko Haram unable to disrupt election process in Nigeria: UN officials

Senior UN officials for West Africa said here Monday that Boko Haram was unable to disrupt the electoral process in Nigeria and following the regional forces' involvement in eastern Nigeria, the areas controlled by the terrorist group have been reduced.

The statement came as the head of the UN West Africa Office ( UNOWA), Mohammed Ibn Chambas, and the deputy UN emergency relief coordinator, Kyung-wha Kang, briefed the UN Security Council on Boko Haram. The 15-nation UN body met here Monday to discuss threats to international peace and security caused by terrorism.

Boko Haram is being "weakened," but it is still committing " horrendous" acts, Chambas said.

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Sunday commended Nigeria's "largely peaceful" presidential and parliamentary elections and their "orderly conduct."

Polling stations across Nigeria opened Saturday amid tight security, as more than 56 million eligible voters went out to cast their ballots to elect a new president. Early that day, at least 25 people were killed in an attack suspected to be a perpetration of Boko Haram on a community in the northeast state of Borno.

The elections had been delayed by six weeks so that government troops could recapture all the communities seized by radical Boko Haram militants since last year.

The boost of security nationwide not only aims to handle potential Boko Haram attacks, but also to control election-related violence in the African nation.

However, Chambas said that Boko Haram's violence and brutality had intensified, including through the use of children as suicide bombers and human shields, and that its reported allegiance to the so-called Islamic State showed that its agenda went well beyond Nigeria.

"Though weakened, the group continues to commit horrendous acts against civilians, including against women and children," said Chambas, who is also the special representative of the UN secretary-general for West Africa.

"Boko Haram's recent allegiance to the Islamic State for Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), whether for publicity reasons or to tap into ISIL's support, is also of concern as it is gives a clear signal that Boko Haram's agenda goes well beyond Nigeria," he said.

"In 2014, the group also commenced using young girls as suicide bombers for attacks in populated urban areas," he said. " We have also observed an alarming trend of children being used by the group as human shields."

Chambas commended the response of the Lake Chad Basin Commission countries, notably the joint regional offensive, which involved troops from all four countries leading to the recapture of several key towns in north-east Nigeria.

"At the beginning of the year, Boko Haram controlled some 20 local governmental districts in the three north-eastern states in Nigeria," he said. "Today, Boko Haram holds only a few areas in Borno State. Moreover, according to reports by the Nigerian Army, on 27 March, Boko Haram's headquarters in Gwoza was captured."

Chambas, who was joined at the council meeting by Kang, outlined reports of the abduction, abuse, recruiting, maiming and killing of children, saying schools in the West African country's northeast and in areas of Cameroon and Niger targeted by Boko Haram no longer safe places of learning, with many attacked, looted, and destroyed.

On the humanitarian consequences of Boko Haram activities, Kang said that the ongoing violent conflict in northeastern Nigeria and the Lake Chad Basin had forcibly displaced at least 1. 5 million people in Nigeria and neighboring countries.

According to Kang, as many as three million people in northern Nigeria will not be able to meet their basic food needs after July 2015 unless they receive well-targeted humanitarian assistance. In addition to insecurity, lack of donor support is constraining the expansion of the humanitarian footprint, she said.

Kang also described the humanitarian needs arising from Boko Haram attacks, saying that more than 7,300 civilians had been killed by Boko Haram since the beginning of 2014 in the three " state of emergency" countries, including 1,000 people this year alone.

"The humanitarian situation in north-east Nigeria and in the conflict-affected areas in neighbouring countries remains dire," said Kang. "The conflict continues to have a devastating impact on women, children and young people, as well as on many others who have been traumatized by violence. Additional funding to address the acute humanitarian needs of those affected by the conflict is urgently needed."

She said Boko Haram's activities had created tens of thousands of refugees, returnees and internally displaced people in Chad, Cameroon and Niger, with schools and health services badly affected, and frequent reports of gross human rights violations. Endite