SW News: The United Nations has said that it is continuing to deliver humanitarian assistance to Niger where the military seized power after toppling President Mohamed Bazoum three weeks ago. Addressing the media during a press meeting in New York on Monday, UN spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said that agencies are reaching out to people in spite of the challenges. As many as 4.3 million people in the nation are in need of humanitarian assistance.

According to Dujarric, as many as 22,000 people in the Maradi region in the central part of the West African nation were provided monetary benefits and food items amid the ongoing political crisis. “We and our humanitarian partners are also working with de facto authorities to identify and prepare a site to accommodate about 13,000 internally displaced people in Ouro Gueladjo, in the Tillabéri region,” he said.

Dujarric told media persons that people were displaced from their hamlets in the middle of last month before the political crisis began brewing.

Meanwhile, the ouster of President Bazoum was slammed by the UN and the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS). Secretary-General Antonio Guterres and other officials of the UN have been demanding the reinstatement of the elected president who is presumed to be under house arrest. There were reports last week that the president and his family were under detention without access to food, water and medicines.

UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turks said that those responsible for the detention of the president must make sure that his human rights are respected and protected. Leonardo Santos Simao, the Secretary General’s Special Representative for West Africa and the Sahel said the security situation in the West African region could go from bad to worse if the political crisis is not solved without delay. The United Nations is also supporting the peace talks by ECOWAS towards reinstating democracy in Niger.