KATSINA – Dr Laraba Abdullahi, the Commissioner, Political Affairs, African Union (AU), on Sunday said the African continent presently had 17 million displaced persons and refugees.
Abdullahi, who, made the disclosure while speaking with newsmen in Katsina, said of the affected persons, 13 million were Internally Displaced Persons, while the remaining four million were refugees.
She disclosed that the people were displaced from either their states or countries due to conflicts or natural disasters that forced them to migrate to safer places.
‘’Some of the African people have been forced to relocate because of religious, ethnic or political conflicts,’’ she said.
The commissioner lamented that millions of the displaced persons had found their way into Chad and they had overstretched the social amenities there.
‘’We at AU, are concerned that IDP’s from North Eastern Nigeria, Dafur in Sudan, Central African Republic and Libya have all trooped into Chad and Niger Republic.
‘’We are calling on other neighboring, well to do countries in the West African sub-region to assist Chad with some relief materials, so as to contain the issue of feeding and accommodation of the displaced persons,’’ she said.
The commissioner called on the African leaders to provide good governance to their people so that they could benefit from the dividends of democracy.
Abdullahi urged the African leaders to ensure the sustenance of democracy and rule of law through the conduct of free and fair elections that would be accepted by all in their countries.
She appealed to Nigerian politicians to practice politics without bitterness to foster and open doors for intra-party interaction, to reduce hostilities among the people. (NAN)
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