Boko Haram affected areas

Military corruption is weakening Nigeria's efforts to battle the Islamist insurgency of Boko Haram, the watchdog Transparency International said on Thursday.

The bold experiment is proving attractive, but comes fraught with dangers.

UNICEF report highlights increase in the number of children, mostly girls, used by armed group in the Lake Chad region.

The Trump administration is poised to sell up to 12 light attack aircraft to Nigeria to support the countryХs fight against the Boko Haram militant group, despite criticism from human rights organizations that the West African country has not done enough to stop the abuses and corruption that flourish in the military.

Nigeria says the war with Boko Haram is over, but new arrivals still pour into camps for displaced people as the terrorists continue their deadly attacks.

Since 2015, the conflict between ChadХs armed forces and Boko Haram has destabilised the Lake Chad region in the west of the country. Defeating this resilient insurgency requires the state to go beyond a purely military campaign and relaunch trade, improve public services and reintegrate demobilised militants.

UN Security Council diplomats have departed on a mission to the Lake Chad Basin in West Africa to see firsthand the security challenges and dire humanitarian situation there.

According to UN estimates, about 17 million people are living in the most affected areas across the four countries (Nigeria, Niger, Chad, and Cameroon). Of them, some 10.7 million people are in need of immediate humanitarian assistance, with 8.5 million in north-eastern Nigeria alone, having been made witness to years of violence as a result of Boko HaramХs insurgency.

Vigilante groups in Nigeria, Cameroon, Niger and Chad play a major role in the fight against Boko Haram, but their presence raises concerns. They make military operations less blunt and more effective and have reconnected these states somewhat with many of their local communities, but they have also committed abuses and become involved in the war economy.

Significant security gains have been made in the fight against Boko Haram, but the war is far from over.