Camp des Réfugiés de Minawao Archives
Contrary to widely circulated media reports, the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR) Cameroon has said it was not involved in a recent repatriation of over 500 Nigerians who had fled into the country due to the Boko Haram insurgency.
Cameroonian authorities expelled 517 Nigerian refugees from the border towns of Kerawa and Kolofata between February 10—15, 2017. Reports say 313 of those sent back were asylum seekers.
In a statement seen by Cameroon’s lone English language daily newspaper, The Guardian Post, on Friday, the UN agency says it wasn’t involved in the expulsion. It said the body plans to sign a tripartite agreement with Cameroon and Nigeria on March 2, 2017 for the voluntary return of some 85,000 Nigerian refugees living in Cameroon.
The agreement will establish the modalities and procedures for the repatriation. 72 per cent of those to be repatriated live in the Minawao camp in the Far North region.
More than 61,000 refugees are currently living at the Minawao camp and a further 20,000 at the Logone and Chari camp in the same region.
Quoting the UNHCR statement, The Guardian Post reports further that the repatriation, “will only take place on the basis of the freely will of the refugees and will ensure that the necessary conditions for security and dignity of their return to Nigeria are in place.”
Refugees who will not voluntarily choose to return will not be forced to and their refugee status will be maintained and recognised by all three parties.
Boko Haram’s insurgency has displaced tens of thousands of Nigerians especially from the North Eastern part of the West African state.
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