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| Africa Subsaharan |
| Boko Haram Has Forced 650,000 Nigerians from Homes, Says the U.N. |
| 2014-08-06 |
| [AnNahar] Attacks by Boko Haram ... not to be confused with Procol Harum, Harum Scarum, possibly to be confused with Helter Skelter. The Nigerian version of al-Qaeda and the Taliban rolled together and flavored with a smigeon of distinctly Subsaharan ignorance and brutality... Islamists in Nigeria's crisis-hit northeast have forced nearly 650,000 people from their homes, the United Nations ...boodling on the grand scale... humanitarian office (OCHA) said Tuesday, an increase of nearly 200,000 since May. The U.N. refugee agency (UNHCR) for its part reported that about 1,000 people trying to escape the fighting had fled to an uninhabited island on Lake Chad across Nigeria's northeastern border. "The group, mainly women and kiddies, is in urgent need of food, water, shelter and medical care," the UNHCR said. They reached the remote island of Choua on Thursday after fleeing a Boko Haram attack in their hometown of Kolikolia, according to the refugee agency. Chad has pledged to send two helicopters to the island to help evacuate the Nigerian refugees to a nearby area where they can be temporarily settled with host communities, the UNHCR added. The refugee agency said it was sending staff to the area to coordinate the relief effort. Thousands have fled over Nigeria's borders into Cameroon ...a long, narrow country that fills the space between Nigeria and Chad on the northeast, CAR to the southeast. Prior to incursions by Boko Haram nothing ever happened there... , Chad and Niger seeking refuge from Boko Haram's relentless violence, which has killed more than 2,000 civilians this year and left scores of villages destroyed. Relief workers have avoided setting up refugee or internally displaced persons (IDP) camps, but some fear camps may soon become necessary, especially in Nigeria, as the security forces struggle to contain the escalating Islamist violence. OCHA said 436,608 people have been displaced in the three states -- Adamawa, Borno and Yobe -- that were placed under emergency rule in May 2013. The agency put the IDP figure at 250,000 in May this year. Another 210,085 have fled their homes in areas neighboring the state of emergency zone, bringing the total number of people displaced by Boko Haram unrest to nearly 650,000, OCHA reported. The Islamist holy warriors, who are seeking to create an Islamic state in the country's predominantly Mohammedan north, have killed more than 10,000 people since 2009. The military has for more than a year been waging an offensive in the northeast aimed at crushing the uprising, but the campaign appears to have yielded few gains and the military's tactics have been harshly criticized. The latest report of massive abuses by Nigeria's military came Monday from Nigeria's defense ministry said it was taking Amnesty's allegations "very seriously" and would launch an investigation. |
| Posted by:trailing wife |
| #4 The ruling caste in Nigeria are less afraid of Boko Haram than of arming their own people, probably with good reason. |
| Posted by: Procopius2k 2014-08-06 18:34 |
| #3 My thought exactly, EU6305. Boko Haram is very good at terrorizing unarmed people. let's see how they do when people shoot back. |
| Posted by: Rambler in Virginia 2014-08-06 17:16 |
| #2 How about giving some of those refugees M-16s? |
| Posted by: Ebbang Uluque6305 2014-08-06 12:39 |
| #1 How much aid per head relative to Gazans? Are they less tha Gazans because of their color? |
| Posted by: JFM 2014-08-06 09:41 |