The Niger Republic troops have deported more than 3,000
Nigerian fishermen and refugees escaping from Boko Haram, Associated Press has
reported.
AP quoted the refugees as saying they were compelled to return to Nigeria after
Boko Haram last week attacked an island in Lake Chad.They also said the soldiers arrived at the fishing village of Lelewa and
ordered them to leave. Niger officials did not immediately respond to requests
for comment.On Monday, Niger said it was planning a military operation in the area to rout
Boko Haram extremists and ordered its citizens to move further inland.Nigeria’s National Emergency Management Agency said it was alerted by Niger and
sent trucks to collect the exhausted refugees at the border.
The agency’s director of search and rescue, Charles Otegbabe, registered the
new arrivals in Gaidam town in the Northeastern Borno State.“We thought there would be about 2,000 but we have already registered more than
3,000 and there are still more people coming,” he said.The refugees said there are hundreds more on the way.“They didn’t even give us time to collect our clothes. We had to abandon
everything,” said Lubabatu Isa, a 21-year-old girl.Isa and Nura Auwal, another refugee, said about a dozen people died during the
three-day walk to the border, including a woman and her newborn twins.Niger is hosting more than 100,000 other Nigerian refugees who have fled Boko
Haram and who apparently are being allowed to remain in camps outside the Lake
Chad area.
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