Between municipal clashes have left at least 32 dead and 74 injured in the Far North of Cameroon, near the border with Chad, thousands of people have fled to Chad or inside Cameroon according to the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). Today, calm has returned but the situation is still difficult for the refugees.
At the beginning of this violence, disputes between fishermen and breeders escalated which escalated last week. On August 10, in the Logone Birni area, tensions degenerated into fighting between the municipalities. 19 villages burned down.
Unmatched violence, according to Selim Meddeb, UNHCR’s spokesperson for West and Central Africa: “The Mousgoum fishermen have created trenches to keep the water, and therefore the fish, and these trenches threaten the crews. Arab Choahardar. This is what they say. There is a dispute over the creation of these trenches to hold back the fish that have degenerated. Today, the situation on the ground is calmer, troops have been deployed, a disarmament process has been carried out by the Cameroonian authorities. The displaced people, however, remain like this and the return is very limited. ”
Resources are lacking 7,300 people have fled inside Cameroon and 11,000 others have arrived in Chad, according to the country’s authorities: “85% of the people who have moved to the Chadian side are women and children, the rest are mainly older men. You should know that the content of malaria in the middle of the rainy season is very high, and this is therefore a major concern for the UNHCR and its partners. “
Basic necessities have been distributed, shelters are being built and medical teams are deployed, but Chad already has half a million refugees, Cameroon 450,000, and funds are lacking to meet the needs of the displaced.
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