Nigerian military suspends UNICEF activities in northeast: statement

Thomson Reuters

MAIDUGURI, Nigeria (Reuters) - The Nigerian military has suspended United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) activities in the northeast of Nigeria, it said in a statement on Friday, accusing its staff of training spies who support an Islamist insurgency there.

The northeast has been torn apart by a decade-long insurgency by Boko Haram and its splinter group Islamic State West Africa (ISWA), creating one of the world's worst humanitarian crises.

The Nigerian military said UNICEF staff "train and deploy spies who support the insurgents and their sympathizers."

A UNICEF spokeswoman did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

(Reporting by Ola Lanre; Writing by Paul Carsten; Editing by Hugh Lawson)

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