The
menace of the dreaded Boko Haram sect which has ravaged Nigeria for
over 8 years was a topic in a strategic meeting attended by English
officials. The United Kingdom has said that it was difficult to forget the
stories of anguish that Boko Haram terrorists perpetrated against
innocent people in the northeast.
The Permanent Representative of UK to the UN, Amb. Matthew Rycroft,
stated this at the Security Council briefing on ‘Peace and Security in
Africa’ with focus on Nigeria and the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
Rycroft recalled the Council’s visit to the Lake Chad region in March, saying “I’m sure that none of us who are on that visit will forget the stories of anguish that we heard there”.
“So many of them from mothers or daughters who had lost
everything – their children, their families, their homes, their hope –
all to Boko Haram. Sadly, it seems that these stories are still being
told.
“In spite of the efforts of the UN, and the AU and governments
of the region, the suffering continues – with over two million people
still displaced in the Lake Chad region; over 96 per cent of them
because of the insurgency.”
According to him, it was high time everything was done to break the
cycle of violence being perpetrated by the Boko Haram terrorists in the
country.
“Put simply Mr President, we need to break the cycle. And by
we, I mean all of us, including this Security Council, but
responsibility must fall, first and foremost, to the governments
affected,” Rycroft said.
“It means governments holding to account those who have
committed these crimes; showing that there can be really no impunity and
no escape; that the rule of law applies to everyone.
“And we need to help them in that effort. And that’s why the
UK, together with our UN and NGO partners, are supporting the Nigerian
government to re-establish basic social services to areas they have
stabilised.”
“It’s why we provide training to the Nigerian Armed Forces and
to African Peacekeeping contingents on protecting civilians and on
preventing sexual and gender based violence,” the UK envoy said.
He said at the heart of addressing the huge humanitarian challenges
caused by the Boko Haram crisis meant women’s equality in all aspects
of politics, government and society.
“It’s unacceptable that women continue to be so poorly
represented in formal governance and peace processes when time after
time studies show that women’s participation in these processes aids
their ultimate success.
“In Nigeria, for instance, women’s participation in the House
of Representatives and Senate has fallen since 2011; it now stands at
around five per cent,” he said.
The UK envoy advocated for the full, active participation of women saying “women
have spent too long enduring and surviving these crises; it’s long past
time for them to play their fullest part in solving them”.
“I’m looking forward to Amina Mohammed’s briefing on her visit
to Nigeria and to the Democratic Republic of the Congo, two crucial
countries, including for the Women, Peace and Security agenda which was
the reason for her visit that she will be briefing us on.
“And on Northeast Nigeria, I was very glad to co-lead the Council there as part of our Lake Chad Basin visit back in March.
“One of the things that we concluded that it was important not
to have a one off visit but to have a series of sustained engagement,
really getting under the surface of the interconnected problems there.
“It’s not just climate change, it’s not just terrorism, it’s
not just governance, it’s not just a famine, it’s everything
interconnected with everything else,” Rycroft said.
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