Tens of thousands of Boko Haram survivors “lack food, healthcare”

Tens of thousands of Boko Haram survivors “lack food, healthcare”

PanARMENIAN.Net - Tens of thousands of Nigeriens who fled a deadly Boko Haram attack are in "great distress", with many lacking food and healthcare, Niger's interior minister said during a visit to the displaced Thursday, June 16, AFP reports.

Boko Haram attacked a military post in Bosso in Niger's Diffa region on June 3, killing 26 soldiers including two from neighbouring Nigeria, in one of the jihadist group's deadliest attacks in the country.

The UN refugee agency said some 50,000 people have fled since the attack in Bosso, a town in Niger near the border with Nigeria and Chad.

"The people are living in a state of great distress," said Mohamed Bazoum, who led a delegation of several ministers, representatives of UN agencies and NGOs.

But "the situation has improved significantly since one week ago when we reached the peak of the crisis", he told AFP.

Shortly after the delegation visited the Nguagam camp, which is some 40 kilometres north of Diffa, witnesses reported hearing numerous gunshots in the area.

"The camp was attacked. I don't have a toll," said Mohamed Bazoum, a driver for the delegation.

The area already hosted tens of thousands of refugees fleeing Boko Haram, AFP says.

In Diffa, a sea of tents and make-shift shelters housing mostly women, children and old people that are buffeted by winds and sand storms is spread out over a stretch of desert beside a main road.

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