6,000 Flee Boko Haram Crisis To Niger – UN

No fewer than 6,000 people ,mostly  women, children and elderly, displaced following the military onslaught against members of  Islamist militant sects,  Boko Haram and the al Qaeda-linked Ansaru,  have fled to neighbouring  Niger Republic.


 The   United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, also  known as the UN Refugee Agency,  made this known in a report  it   presented in  New York, United States on Tuesday   by  its  spokesperson, Mr Adrian Edwards.

Edwards said,  “Those who spoke to UNHCR    say they escaped for fear of being caught in the government-led crackdown,” Reuters quoted him as saying. He  added that the presence of the Nigerians refugees in Niger was  “putting a strain on meager local food and water resources” on the country which  “struggles with food insecurity due to years of drought.”

According to him, the “refugees  are either renting houses or staying with host families, who are themselves living in very precarious conditions.”

Edward   stated that  UNHCR member of staff, who  visited several border villages hosting  the refugees met some Nigerian families living out in the open  and some under trees.

Disclosing that the  agency  would help the Nigerien authorities to register the refugees, he said further that there were  plans to deliver some relief to the refugees and their   host communities.

He   said that   240  others, comprising  Niger nationals and people of other nationalities, also fled from Nigeria to Niger  while some ran to   Cameroon and Chad  in the past few weeks. The two countries  also share common boundaries with Nigeria.

The report  also  stated that the Nigerian  “refugees reported that air strikes by government forces are continuing from time to time, and that planes are regularly flying over the states of Borno, Yobe and Adamawa where a  state of emergency has been in force since May 14.”

It  added, “People arriving in Niger also mentioned the increasing presence of roving armed bandits in several states in Nigeria. The people also spoke of rising commodity prices coupled with pre-existing food insecurity which is also becoming  a major concern for the populations of the affected states.”

Nigerian forces are engaged in a  four- week-old operation to regain territory from fighters loyal to   Boko Haram. The soldiers claim that   they had  destroyed key  Boko Haram bases and arrested more than 150 suspected insurgents in Borno, Yobe and Adamawa states.

The military was not immediately available for comment, but in a statement on FridayDefence Headquarters Spokesman,  Brig -Gen. Chris Olukolade,  denied a report that Nigerian refugees were “pouring into” Niger.

This was even as  the National Emergency Management Agency  said it was responding to the humanitarian needs of the displaced Nigerians in Niger Republic to to alleviate their conditions.

It  said the basic needs  were identified by a special assessment carried out by its team  that was dispatched to the   Niger Republic to ascertain the conditions of Nigerians that had crossed over the border into the country.