Crisis: Over 35,000 Cameroonians invade Nigeria ― UNCHR
By OVER 35,000 Cameroonians fleeing from the secessionist crisis in the country have invaded three states of Benue, Cross River and Taraba, the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) has revealed.
The UN Agency has also disclosed that about 300,000 Nigerians were displaced in the recent attacks by the Boko Haram insurgents on some communities in Borno State.
UNHCR Regional Representative for West Africa Ms Liz Kpam Ahua made this known on Monday at the opening of a two-day Second Regional protection dialogue on the Lake Chad Basin in Abuja.
According to the UNHCR report on Nigeria Regional Refugee Response Plan 2019/2020, over 99,500 Nigerian refugees are currently hosted in Cameroon, this including 53,000 refugees living in camps while nearly 45,000 are living out-of-camp.
The report also indicated that there were over 9,000 Nigeria refugees in Chad and 120,000 in Niger.
Ahua who also doubles as the Regional Refugee Coordinator, Nigeria Situation, said it was unfortunate that in spite of some gains achieved in weakening the activities of insurgents, Lake Chad Basin continues to witness crises.
She lamented that as a result of these crises, many of the regional population are living in the fringes of poverty.
She, therefore, called for urgent action to alleviate the suffering of people in Lake Chad Basin, stressing the need for a comprehensive response framework.
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Also speaking, the Honourable Federal Commissioner, National Commission for Refugees, Migrants and Internally Displaced Persons, Hajiya Sadiya Umar Farouq, corroborated Ahua, that the violent conflict in the Cameroon Republic was increasing the forced displacement of citizens, with over 30,000 refugees currently hosted in Nigeria.
She said this has unfortunately taken a toll on the already overstretched humanitarian actors in the region.
Farouq lamented that there were 4.3 million persons of concern in the region, comprising internally displaced persons (IDPs), refugees, both in and out camps, saying Nigeria has the highest share of the burden hosting about 80 per cent of the persons of concern while Cameroon, Niger, and Chad hosted 10 per cent, 6 per cent and 5 per cent respectively.
Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Interior, Dr Mohammed Bello Umar, recalled that the first dialogue on the protection of Lake Chad was held in June 2016, which produced a wide range of tangible outcomes.
He added that prominent among the outcomes were a 24-point Action Statement and the preparation of a Tripartite Agreement for the voluntary repatriation of Nigerian refugees living in Cameroon between the governments of Nigeria and Cameroon and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHRC).
Umar, however, said while the activities of the insurgents have been maximally contained by the present government of President Muhammadu Buhari, the toll on the displaced population is still very high.
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