MAIDUGURI--Following sustained Boko Haram attacks in the North-Eastern part of the country, thousands of Nigerians have been forced to flee their homes, swamping towns in the north of neighbouring Cameroon, authorities said yesterday. This came as Boko Haram terrorists, for three days, laid siege to Gamboru town, forcefully conscripting youths to fight both the Nigerian and Cameroonian troops. They were said to have killed those who resisted them.
After the three-day attack, 29 persons were killed, while 215 of the youths, who fled to Cameroon to escape the forceful conscription, have recounted their ordeals in the hands of the insurgents.
A Cameroonian police officer told AFP on condition of anonymity that: "We've been flooded here in Mora by Cameroonians and Nigerians fleeing Boko Haram. The day before yesterday (Friday), there were already more than 10,000 people in Mora. Not a day goes by without more people coming."
The number of internally displaced people in Nigeria and those who have crossed its borders into Cameroon, Niger and Chad because of the militant violence has been increasing, with no end in sight to the insurgency.
A picture taken on August 21, 2014 shows Internally Displaced People (IDP) receiving food in Madagali camp in Nigeria's northeastern Adamawa State. Mostly women and children, the IDPs in Madagali fled their homes in Gwoza, Borno State, to neighbouring Adamawa State following incessant attacks by Islamists insurgents Boko Haram. Nearly 11,500 people from one town in northeast Nigeria are receiving emergency aid after fleeing Boko Haram militants, the country's main relief agency said on on August 21. The National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) said 11,442 men, women and children from Gwoza in Borno state had been registered at two facilities for displaced people in neighbouring Adamawa state. The Islamists took over Gwoza, which lies near the border with Cameroon, on August 7 and NEMA said the town was "still under siege". AFP PHOTO
The United Nations' humanitarian office (OCHA) said on August 5 that Boko Haram attacks have forced nearly 650,000 people from their homes in the North-East states of Borno, Yobe and Adamawa.
The National Emergency Management Agency, NEMA, has said that nearly 11,500 fled Gwoza, also in Borno State, when militants seized the town on August 7. Boko Haram has since declared Gwoza part of an Islamic caliphate.
Cameroon registers displaced persons
The Cameroonian police officer said registration of the displaced persons had begun in Mora, while the nearby town of Kolofata had seen more than 6,000 arrive.
"People are everywhere: in schools, under trees and in the markets," he added.
"They're all coming from Cameroonian and Nigerian villages in the Kerawa area."
Kerawa straddles the border and has come under attack in recent days by Boko Haram, forcing the residents to flee on foot.
Cameroon state radio said the withdrawal of its soldiers had led to a mass exodus of civilians, adding that more than 6,000 people had taken flight and were now based in the Kolofata state school, with 2,000 others around Mora.
Gamboru Ngala residents, who fled across the border to the Cameroon town of Fotokol, said on Saturday that the militants had begun to kill people "like chickens," despite initially targeting only the police and military.
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