B’Haram: 66,000 Nigerian refugees in Cameroon, UN says

The exodus of Nigerians fleeing from Boko Haram attacks in the North-East of the country continues amid an influx of another 16,000 refugees into neighbouring Cameroon, the United Nations refugee agency has said.

According to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, the latest movements are expected to bring the total of Nigerian refugees in Cameroon to nearly 66,000.

Speaking to journalists at a press briefing in Geneva, Switzerland, on Tuesday, the UNHCR’s spokesman, Adrian Edwards, said Cameroonian authorities had observed a “steady flow of refugees streaming in through the extremely volatile” border regions of Makaria, Logone Birni and Fotokol, south of Lake Chad, leaving them vulnerable to attacks from the Boko Haram insurgents

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Clashes between the terrorist group and the Nigerian troops have intensified in recent weeks as fighting has spilled across borders and become increasingly regionalised.

According to reports, during the past few weeks alone, the group has also perpetrated deadly attacks against civilians in Chad, Cameroon and Niger.

Edwards noted that the UNHCR was already planning daily transfers of 2,000 refugees to Minawao, where there is an established refugee camp currently hosting more than 32,600 and where urgent shelter and sanitation construction is under way.

At the camp, he added, the UNHCR would also be providing basic relief aid, such as blankets, kitchen sets and soap.

The surge in fighting across the region has largely hampered efforts to provide humanitarian assistance to those in need. Edwards told journalists that the UN refugee agency was working with the Cameroonian government to relocate refugees as quickly as possible from the zones of active conflict to a nearby transit area but that the refugees had become difficult to reach due to the unstable situation.

He added that the evolving security situation and the prospect of more refugees arriving had prompted the need for the creation of a new camp further away from the insecure border.

“Given the scarcity of water in the area around Minawao, we are looking to secure a second camp location that will provide adequate levels of potable water for a rapidly growing refugee population in the Far North region,” the spokesman for the UNHCR said.

The agency also noted that elsewhere in the region, refugee numbers were also rising. It said some 18,000 people had fled to western Chad, including more than 15,000 since early January after Boko Haram’s offensive against the town of Baga in Borno State.

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