Editor TLN
November 18 (EUROPA PRESS) –
A humanitarian worker from the non-governmental organization Doctors of the World died on Thursday at the hands of a Nigerian soldier in the town of Damboa, located in the state of Borno (northeast), an event that also resulted in the death of a pilot from the Air Humanitarian Service of United Nations (UNHAS) wounded.
The UN humanitarian coordinator in Nigeria, Matthias Schmale, has called the event “deeply disturbing and sad” and has conveyed his “heartfelt condolences” to the family and colleagues of the deceased aid worker. “I also wish a speedy recovery to the UNHAS pilot who was injured in a regrettable attack, apparently carried out by a rogue soldier,” he added.
“All aid workers working in North East Nigeria deserve our full respect for their courage and commitment to stay and give vital aid to people in need, often in difficult and dangerous circumstances. Aid workers must be protected,” has underlined.
Likewise, Schmale has applauded “the efforts of the Government and the Army to quickly investigate the incident”, while calling on Abuja to “strengthen preventive measures to avoid similar incidents in the future.”
According to information collected by the Nigerian newspaper ‘Daily Post’, the soldier died after being shot by other soldiers after his attack. Sources cited by this means have indicated that the fatality is a woman of Ethiopian nationality who worked for Médicos del Mundo, without the NGO having ruled for the moment.
In this sense, they have affirmed that the soldier fired a series of shots at a UNHAS helicopter, injuring the pilot, after which he took out a knife and stabbed the humanitarian worker up to four times, although the authorities have not given for now an official version of what happened.
Samson Nantop Zhakom, one of the Nigerian Army spokesmen, has confirmed what happened, which he has described as “a sad event”, before adding that a second soldier has been shot dead by the attacker. “Our troops on the ground were immediately neutralized by the personnel present”, he has concluded.
