Nigeria Lifts Ban on Charities

The Nigerian government has said that a ban it placed on two aid organisations working in the north of the country will be lifted in the coming few days.

In September the army moved in to close the offices of Mercy Corps and Action Against Hunger (ACH), over fears that they were supply the Islamist group Boko Haram with food and drugs.

The both NGO’s were accused by the military of “aiding and abetting terrorists and their atrocities”.

Sir Mark Lowcock, head of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, met local officials and reportedly “received reassurances from the relevant authorities that the suspension of the activities of Mercy Corps and Action Against Hunger announced in September will be lifted in the next few days”.

He said in a statement “that should allow an immediate resumption of life-saving assistance to nearly 400,000 people who have been without food and other essential help for the last month”.

This news will certainly be welcomed by many local residents who live in the Muslim-majority north, many of whom feared it could worsen the humanitarian crisis caused by Boko Haram.

This was not the first-time aid organisations have been banned by the Nigerian military.  Last year it conflicted with UNICEF, the UN’s children’s organisation, accusing it of spying for Boko Haram, though it lifted the sanction within a matter of hours.