The increase in the number of displaced people in Lake Chad worries the UN

Text by: RFI Follow

2 min

The United Nations International Organization for Migration (IOM) is worried about an increase in displaced people in recent months in the Lake Chad region, as 360,000 people have fled as having fled their place of residence.

Publicity

Twelve thousand people fled their homes between August 8 and August 16 alone. "  One of the largest numbers recorded by the IOM over such a short period  ," said the United  Nations International Organization for Migration (IOM) in a statement. "  The acceleration of displacements is due to the recurrence of attacks by armed groups in the region, specifically in the Lake Chad region, as well as to the floods caused by torrential rains that have hit the country since the beginning of the month of August , explains Anna Schaefer, IOM Chief of Mission in Chad.Some of the displacements that we have also recorded are preventive, that is to say that some populations leave their locality when they learn that attacks are imminent, or when they have seen that there have been attacks in the villages. neighboring villages . "

Lake Chad , on the border between Nigeria, Niger, Cameroon and Chad, has been transformed by climate change into a vast swampy expanse dotted with small islets, some of which are the haunt of jihadists from the Nigerian group Boko Haram.

“  In recent weeks, there has been an increase in attacks due to the convergence of factors of insecurity linked to incursions by armed elements, preventive movements following threats, and due to heavy rain and flooding, continues Anna Schaefer. The situation for this population is really complicated, there is not just the Covid-19, there is also this danger or this risk of water-borne diseases, such as cholera for example.  "

Newsletter Receive all the international news directly in your mailbox

Follow all the international news by downloading the RFI application

• Chad
• UN
• Refugees