Brussels: A perfect storm of drought, poverty and armed conflict in Africa's Lake Chad basin could fuel Europe's migrant crisis if world leaders fall short at two crucial summits on migration and climate change this year, a UN official warned.
The two-day EU-African summit in the Maltese capital Valletta which begins on November 11 and the UN COP21 climate conference in Paris at the end of the month must tackle long-festering problems in the region, Toby Lanzer, the UN regional humanitarian coordinator for the Sahel, told AFP this week.
Both summits address key issues which are keenly felt by countries in the drought-stricken Lake Chad basin, where 2.5 million people have been displaced, some of whom have already crossed international borders to escape the Islamist militant group Boko Haram, he said.
"Asylum seeking, the refugee crisis, the environmental crisis, the instability that extremists sow -- all of those issues converge in the Lake Chad basin," Lanzer said.
"So there's a very compelling reason why the international community needs to step up and do more."
The world must help Lake Chad basin countries Chad, Niger, Nigeria and Cameroon to not only end the militant scourge but also tackle the effects of climate change, he said.
Vast expanses of the lake have dried up and deprived people of their livelihoods of fishing, livestock farming and trade, he added.
AFP
