…says access to civilians in conflict a big challenge
BY AMOS DUNIA, ABUJA – The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), has said that its role in Nigeria does not involve taking part in the negotiation process between the federal government, its military and the Boko Haram terrorists and ISWAP.
It also states that it does take any side of the party as it strictly maintains that its mandate is to bring succour to civilians in conflict.
The Communications Coordinator, ICRC Nigeria, Mr. Vincent Pouget, who stated the position of the organisation when he spoke with PRNigeria, while making clarification on the processes that led to the release of some kidnapped Chibok and Dapchi girls in Borno and Yobe states respectively by the Boko Haram terrorists as well as the Islamic State in West Africa Province (ISWAP).
Pouget said there were a lot of misunderstanding over the role ICRC played as they were perceived to have taken part in the negotiation for the release of over a hundred students of Government Girls Technical College Dapchi and Government Girls Secondary School (GSS) Chibok.
He said that the ICRC only provided logistics in terms of transportation after negotiations have been concluded, stressing that the ICRC is independent and neutral.
Pouget sid; “Let me explain to you our role. Both parties agreed on the release of the girls on their own without us being involved. The ICRC was not at all part of the negotiation process. It was when they agreed for the release that they asked ICRC to provide logistics like the transport to go from one place to another that’s only what we provided.
“We have a bit problem with perception in the North-East because people thought that we have a specific connection (with insurgents), they thought we were involved in the negotiation, that’s not the case.
“We do not support any fighting parties at all. The misconception that we got is that people thought we were involved in the negotiation, but that’s not our mandate. We only support civilians affected by the situation.”
Pouget explained that the aim of the ICRC is to alleviate and prevent the suffering of civilians in armed violence, be it a situation of armed conflicts like the one in the North East or other situations of violence such as in the North Central, or South-South such as communal clashes.
He further said; “So, in the North East in particular, our aim is to provide succour for a civilian population that are being affected by the violence. One of our core mandates is to provide medical care.
“The ICRC, in 2019 alone, it provided more than 745,000 people with either food items or food assistance in other ways and improved access to water for over 500,000 people including household and those living in Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) camps.”
Pouget explained that one of ICRC’s core mandate is to provide medical care and it has provided more than 506,000 consultations in Primary Health Care Centres where more than 22,000 children have been born.
According to him; “To highlight that in Maiduguri, we have a surgical team at the state specialist hospital and in 2019, they treated over 7,700 patients. Providing surgical and medical care for civilians affected is only one area of focus for the ICRC. But, we are trying to address other needs in terms of water, shelter, food as much as we can.
“When it comes to access to water, shelter, in Maiduguri we have supported the Rehabilitation of the Almajiri Water Treatment Plant that is providing water for the time being to over 90,000 people, household residents and IDPs in camps. This is being done with the Ministry of Water Resources in charge of the sustainability of the project.
“For people who have been displaced, in Monguno, Damboa, and Maiduguri, we built temporary shelters for over 34,000 people,” Pouget explained.
