Cameroon officials on Wednesday said it has concluded arrangements with neighbouring Nigeria for the return of 4,000 Nigerian refugees to their country by April 29.
According to the region’s governor Midjiyawa Bakari, the refugees from Minawao camp, the only official refugee camp in Cameroon’s far North region, voluntarily opted to return home.
“We have agreed with the Nigerian government that 4,000 refugees from Adamawa state in Nigeria will be returned.
“They are the first ones to return but the process will continue after that,’’ Bakari told newsmen.
According to him, they will return by air, while Cameroon will provide the security from the refugee camp to the airport.
“We (Nigeria and Cameroon) are discussing how we will do with their children that have been going to school here and the property they have obtained here,’’ he said.
officials said that the majority of the refugees at the camp are from Borno state in Nigeria except those from Adamawa asked to be taken home because “there is calm and security there’’.
In early April, Cameroon assisted 40,000 out of about 60,000 Nigerians who fled into Cameroon before Nigeria’s February elections to return home.
According to the UN, Minawao camp hosts over 57,000 Nigerian refugees who fled from the atrocities of terror group Boko Haram. (Xinhua/NAN)