Paper details

Paper authors	Simeon Alozieuwa
In panel on	Armed non-state actors and humanitarian action
Paper presenter(s) will be presenting	In-Person / Online

Abstract

Across the world, humanitarian actors increasingly come under one form of attack or another in environments where they operate. In April 2018 in Maiduguri, North-East Nigeria, three aid workers were killed in a vicious attack in one IDPs Camp by a non-state armed group; earlier another was kidnapped on the way to project site in Kano, Nigeria’s North-West state. Also military authorities declare some aid workers persona non-grata in the North-East. During MSF recent field trip to Maiduguri, epicenter of Nigeria’s insurgency war, military authorities were unwilling to grant access to ‘ungoverned’ areas. Evident from the foregoing, is the dilemma often faced by the humanitarian community. Also, military/political authorities apparently, are distrustful of humanitarian actors; for non-state armed groups, the enemy lines are blurred, if not constantly shifting. But of the estimated 85 per cent target of a 5.2 million population potentially reachable with humanitarian assistance, in the beginning of 2018, the Nigerian Humanitarian Country Team (NHCT) estimates that 926,000 are inaccessible. Most of these populations are holed up in ‘ungoverned spaces’, under non-state armed groups’ control. Should the humanitarian community throw up its arms in expatiation? This paper explores this dilemma and concerns itself also with how humanitarian actors can navigate this problematic.

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