A joint IOM Chadian assessment team that travelled to a remote area
on the Chad-Nigeria border has discovered a group of over 800
destitute Chadian returnees from Nigeria, including a large number
of unaccompanied children aged between 6 and 14.

The assessment by IOM and the CNAR (National Agency for Refugees
and IDPs), was undertaken at the request of the Chadian government
following reports of Chadian nationals fleeing violence in
Nigeria.

It found that many of the migrants in the village of Ngouboua,
30 km from the Nigerian border were children sent by their parents
to Nigeria to study in Koranic schools. They were only accompanied
by their Marabout religious teachers.

Others in the group, who were all in urgent need of food, water,
medical care and transport to their homes, were Christian families
who had gone to Nigeria to find work, according to the assessment
team.

The migrants told the team that they had travelled across Lake
Chad by boat from the Nigerian villages of Douri and Maday, which
had been seriously affected by violent clashes between the
extremist Boko Haram Islamic group and the Nigerian military.

The Nigerian immigration services reported on Monday that over
the past six months they have repatriated some 11,000 "undesirable"
foreigners, mainly from Chad and Niger.

 

Chad's Lac region where the returnees are sheltering has been
experiencing food shortages for some time.  The migrants are
currently surviving on whatever food is given to them by the
villagers. The team saw several children begging for food.

Some of the group are sleeping in makeshift huts. Others are
living in the open with inadequate clothing to protect them from
the cold at night.

According to medical staff in the assessment team, many of the
children are also suffering from exhaustion and dehydration
following a long journey and exposure to the elements.

For more information please contact:

Qasim Sufi

IOM Chad

Tel: +235.22525359

E-mail: "mailto:qsufi@iom.int">qsufi@iom.int