The United Nations has expressed concern over the continuing terrorist attacks in West Africa, and has urged for enhanced efforts to pacify the region.
This comes following an attack staged by Islamist militant group Boko Haram on a village in the northwest of Nigeria, which killed at least 19 people.
UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres has called for the apprehension of the perpetrators of that attack, calling for national and regional initiatives to stabilize the region.
“The Secretary-General remains deeply concerned about the persisting violence in the Lake Chad Basin region,” his spokesman said in a statement issued on Monday evening.
“He commends national and regional initiatives to bring peace and stability to the area and to address the root causes of the conflict.”
Boko Haram has waged an extremist Islamist war in West Africa for over a decade, killing tens of thousands.
The insurgency has affected the Lake Chad basin, which covers Cameroon, Chad, Nigeria and Niger.
The group’s activities, which include abductions and forcing captives to serve as suicide bombers, have displaced around 10 million people, as of 2017.
The Secretary-General again called on the international community to increase support to regional efforts to fight the militants, which include the establishment of a Multinational Joint Task Force.
