38 UN, aid workers killed in Nigeria: official

MAIDUGURI, Nigeria

Nearly 40 United Nations staff and aid workers have been killed in the last decade by Boko Haram violence in the volatile Nigeria northeast region, a UN official said Friday.

"A total of 38 UN and NGO workers, most of them Nigerian, have been killed since 2011," according to UN Under-Secretary General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator Mark Lowcock who said the figure includes 10 aid workers who died in nearly two years.

Lowcock announced plans by the military to lift the suspension on activities of two international aid organizations.

The military in September suspended Action Against Hunger and Mercy Corps, two aid organizations providing humanitarian support in the northeast on suspicion of collaborating with Boko Haram.

He said six aid workers abducted by Boko Haram in June have yet to be rescued but maintained that all humanitarian groups working in Nigeria which received support from the UN operate in conformity with international standards.

Lowcock said counterterrorism operations of the Nigerian military cannot succeed without humanitarian support from aid organizations.

The envoy said the UN has received assurances from authorities to lift the ban placed on two international aid organizations by the military for the resumption of humanitarian interventions of about 400,000 people in the northeast region.

Nearly 3 million people have been displaced by a decade of Boko Haram violence, according to a report by the National emergency management agency.