Boko Haram affected areas

The intensity of the conflict against Boko Haram in CameroonХs Far North has diminished, though the movement still poses a threat and the humanitarian situation remains precarious. Long-term stability hinges on how the government resolves two principal security challenges: first, dealing with former combatants and other Boko Haram members; and, secondly, determining the future of community self-defence, or vigilante, groups.

The ongoing terror threat in Nigeria, Chad, Niger and Cameroon has led the governments of the Lake Chad region to enact numerous security restrictions in affected areas. While these restrictions are meant to improve security for all, some affect civilians negatively Р particularly regarding livelihoods.

United Nations Secretary-General Ant—nio Guterres has condemned SaturdayХs attacks in northeastern Nigeria by suspected Boko Haram insurgents targeting Eid al-Fitr celebrations. According to media reports, blasts killed dozens of people in the Damboa Local Government area of Borno State.

People in two of northeastern NigeriaХs six states say militants with ties to Boko Haram are still in control of areas despite the federal governmentХs unwavering stance that it has defeated the Jihadist militant group.

NigeriaХs government is in talks with Islamist militant group Boko Haram about a possible ceasefire with the ultimate aim of securing a permanent cessation of hostilities, the countryХs information minister said on Sunday.

Nigeria's presidency said on Monday it plans to negotiate for the release of 110 girls abducted from a school in the northeastern town of Dapchi last month, rather than use a military operation to free them by force. Й Nigeria is grappling with an insurgency by Boko Haram that has killed at least 20,000 people since 2009. Members of the group are suspected of the latest kidnapping, on Feb. 19, in the state of Yobe.

Suspected Boko Haram militants killed at least 11 people including three aid workers in an attack on a military barracks in NigeriaХs northeastern Borno state late on Thursday, according to two security reports seen by Reuters.

On February 2, more than two dozen Boko Haram fighters emerged from a hideout in Sambisa Forest and surrendered to authorities. Their defections were a key victory for Nigerian forces and regional allies in their battle against the diminished, but still deadly, terrorist group.

With more than a quarter of a million people affected by the Boko Haram insurgency in the Lake Chad Basin region, the United Nations refugee agency and its humanitarian partners launched on Wednesday an inter-agency funding appeal for $157 million. ТThe Boko Haram crisis lingers on and is far from over,У said Kelly T. Clements, Deputy United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, at the appeal launch in NigerХs capital Niamey.

In a statement (army spokesman, Col. Timothy) Antigha said the abductees included men, women and children, and he said most were forced to work as farm laborers by the insurgents on various islands in Lake Chad. He said the military was monitoring the escaped captives to ensure there are no militants hiding among them.