The United Nations refugee agency has reported that nearly 1,000 people who recently arrived on the uninhabited Chadian island of Choua are Nigerian refugees fleeing attacks by Boko Haram in northern Nigeria.
According to the office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), the island of Choua, in Lake Chad, is about 4 kilometres from where the borders of Chad, Nigeria and Niger intersect.
The development monitored from the UN News Centre stated that refugees arriving on the island reported that they had fled violence and attacks on their village that resulted in the destruction of their houses and food reserves.
The group, which included mainly women and children, is in urgent need of food, water, shelter and medical care, the UNHCR reports.[eap_ad_2]
Ariane Rummery, UNHCR spokesperson, stated in Geneva, Switzerland, that the refugees were from the Nigerian city of Kolikolia, in strife-torn Borno State.
She said that at the request of the government of Chad, the refugees would be relocated to the safer and more accessible hosting area in Ngouboua, some 30 kilometres from the border, where a number of Nigerian refugees and Chadian returned refugees already lived among hosting villages.
Meanwhile, UNHCR and its partners have sent aid packages – including high energy biscuits, water purification kits, mosquito nets, communal tents, sleeping mats and other household items – to Ngouboua. (Leadership)[eap_ad_3]