Hidden Crisis, Boirno, Nigeria

Borno State, north-east Nigeria, is at the epicentre of a humanitarian crisis that has seen almost two million people leave their homes and seek safety in temporary camps. There has been an increase in attacks, including a series of large, well-coordinated and brazen attacks on the towns of Gwoza and Damboa. Up until the horrific attack that made the headlines last week near Maiduguri, when over 110 farmers were killed, 22 people had already died in attacks on farmers near the town in November. Every day farmers make the decision to head out of safety across the defensive trenches protecting the towns - at great risk of murder or abduction. “If we don’t farm we don’t eat and we die. Either way we die - but starvation is certain.” Miami IDP Camp chairman, Maiduguri. Since the conflict started in 2012, an estimated 36,000 people have been killed. Thousands are still at risk of landmines and other unexploded ordnance as well as attacks, kidnap and rape as the protracted conflict between Boko Haram, other armed groups and the Nigerian army enters its 12th year. Women, girls and boys are the most affected, accounting for four out of five of the crisis population, with a quarter being children under the age of five.