The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) on Tuesday said it has registered more than 20,000 cases of missing persons as a result of the Boko Haram/Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP) terrorism in Northeast Nigeria.
The 12-year-old war, the ICRC added, has claimed the lives of more than 300,000 persons and while millions have being displaced from their ancestral homes and are now living in transit or Internally Displaced (IDP) camps.
ICRC Maiduguri Field Officer, Usman Kunduli Bukar, said on Tuesday during the two-day workshop themed “Humanitarian Reporting Workshop in Maidugur” that “the Northeast conflicts is more gruesome more than what we think. Thousands have lost their fathers, sons and children. Many families are looking for their relations.
“Women are going through a lot of issues of depression due to missing their children.
“We have registered more than 20,000 cases of missing persons in the northeast, they have either been killed or missing, we have registered 4,000 cases of such in Bama local government area Borno state alone.”
He noted that ICRC maintains family contact and reunites separated families.