UNSC sends delegation to Lake Chad Basin to examine terrorism threat

A Security Council delegation left UN Headquarters on Wednesday for a week-long trip to the Lake Chad Basin in northern central Africa to examine local terrorism threat.

The delegation was led by British Ambassador Matthew Rycroft, this month's president of the council, and joined by Ambassador Francois DeLattre of France and Ambassador Fode Seck of Senegal. They will make an investigation on the Boko Haram threat to Cameroon, Chad, Niger and Nigeria.

The terrorist group Boko Haram has killed more than 20,000 people and displaced 2.3 million others since their insurgency started in 2009.

"The overarching theme of our month is going to be preventing conflict in Africa, building on the top priority set by the incoming (UN) Secretary-General Antonio Guterres," Rycroft told reporters at a monthly briefing of the council's program of work just before departure.

"In pursuit of that theme is going to be, first of all, the visit to the Lake Chad Basin and the four countries most directly affected by the Boko Haram threat," he said. "That carries on tonight to March 7. We are looking first of all at the threat posed by Boko Haram and the way those four countries individually and collectively are responding to that threat."

Rycroft also said a related issue of the humanitarian crisis was more neglected than some of the crises in the news at the moment, referring to the fears publicized recently of famine in parts of South Sudan and threatened in Nigeria, Somalia, and Yemen.

Meanwhile, Ambassador DeLattre stressed the importance of the trip. "This is the first time ever that the Security Council will visit the region," he said.

"It has decided to do so in order to fully support the four countries most affected by Boko Haram's terrorism and also facing a very serious humanitarian crisis."

DeLattre said the visit would carry three key messages. The fist is to encourage the States in the region to further strengthen their cooperation in the fight against Boko Haram's terrorism.

The second is to encourage governments in the region to continue to facilitate access to humanitarian assistance for the most vulnerable populations, and the third is to encourage the states in the region to adopt a comprehensive approach to address the root causes of terrorism.

"This articulation between the humanitarian assistance and development is also something very important for us," said Delattre, expressing hope the 15-member panel would be "united."

Britain and France are two of the five permanent members of the council, the other three are China, Russia and the United States, while Senegal is one of the 10 non-permanent members. Endit