MSF: UN must declare Nigeria 'top emergency'

Northeastern Nigeria is close to famine with hundreds of thousands trapped without help, and must be declared a "top emergency" by the UN, said medical charity Doctors Without Borders on Wednesday. The charity, known by its French acronym MSF, said the region devastated by Boko Haram's Islamist insurgency had between 500 000 and 800 000 people trapped in areas that cannot be reached by humanitarian workers. A UN "top emergency" designation - which would put Nigeria on a list with Syria, Iraq and Yemen - would immediately mobilise more resources to a crisis that has not received nearly enough attention, MSF said.