Boko Haram Attacks: Nigerians Turn Refugees In Niger & Cameroon

Thousands of people have fled across Nigeria's
borders with Cameroon and Niger amid renewed
clashes between the Nigerian military and Boko
Haram insurgents, the UN's refugee agency said
Friday.
Adrian Edwards, spokesman for the UN High
Commissioner for Refugees, said that 4,000 people
had fled to Cameroon since mid-January, and 1,500
to Niger.
In northern Cameroon, UN aid workers met with
refugees from around the town of Banki, which lies
just over the border in Nigeria.
"The refugees said their villages were bombed, that
several people had been killed and that at least two
villages were burned to the ground," Edwards told
reporters.
Nigerian authorities imposed a state of emergency in
three northern states in May 2013 in a bid to crush
an insurgency by the Islamist group Boko Haram.
Thousands of people have fled across the borders or
to other parts of Nigeria to avoid being caught up in
the fighting, to escape attacks by militants or to flee
what human rights groups say is a heavyhanded
government crackdown that has also affected
civilians.
The new influx raises the number of Nigerian
refugees in Cameroon to more than 12,400 — just
over 2,000 of whom have been moved to camps
deeper inside the country.
In Niger, meanwhile, those who have fled include
8,000 Nigerians and 30,000 Niger nationals who had
been living in Nigeria.
The latest refugees there told UN aid workers that
they had fled a village after its mosque was attacked,
seven people were killed and 60 shops torched.
Most of the refugees were women and children, and
were being hosted by the local community, Edwards
said.
The UN has appealed to countries in the region to
keep their borders open for Nigerians who need a
haven, and not to send back any refugees.
Boko Haram have been fighting a drawn-out
insurgency since 2009 in the mainly Muslim north,
attacking schools teaching a "Western" curriculum
and churches, claiming thousands of lives.
Emergency rule has largely succeeded in pushing the
militants out of towns and cities in the wider north
but attacks are still frequent in more remote areas,
particularly in border regions.
Sent From David Aniemeka