A growing number of English-speaking Cameroonians are crossing into Nigeria to escape what they describe as brutal military crackdowns in their villages. Men, women and children from border areas of the South West and North West regions are arriving in Nigerian communities with little more than the clothes they wore when they ran.
Why people are fleeing
Testimonies collected from those who have crossed paint a consistent picture. After protests and the raising of separatist flags in Anglophone towns, security forces carried out operations in surrounding villages. Residents say homes were searched and in some cases burned, young men were arrested or beaten, and gunfire forced entire families into the bush. Fearing that they would be targeted simply for being young or for living in a protest area, many chose to leave.
Paul Biya's government says its forces are responding to secessionist violence and protecting public order. Rights groups and the families who fled insist that civilians are bearing the brunt of the response.
The route to Nigeria
Most refugees travel on foot through forest paths or cross rivers by canoe. Border communities in Nigeria's Cross River State, as well as parts of Benue and Taraba states, have received the bulk of new arrivals. Many of these areas share family ties, languages and trade with the Cameroonian side, and local people have opened their homes to the newcomers.
Needs on arrival
- Shelter, as host households quickly become overcrowded
- Food and clean water
- Health care for the wounded, the sick and pregnant women
- Registration, so that refugees can access protection and assistance
Humanitarian response
Nigerian emergency agencies and the UN refugee agency have begun registering arrivals and assessing needs. Aid workers caution that the flow could increase if violence continues, and that host communities, many of them poor, will need support of their own. Schools have been disrupted for refugee children, many of whom had already missed months of classes because of the school boycott in the Anglophone regions.
A crisis with regional consequences
The flight of Southern Cameroonians into Nigeria turns an internal political dispute into a regional humanitarian issue. It puts pressure on relations between Abuja and Yaounde and raises questions about the protection of refugees and the risk of forced returns. Observers say the exodus is a sign that the Anglophone crisis has moved to a far more dangerous phase.
For the families now living across the border, the hope is simple: to return home safely. That hope depends on an end to the violence and on a political solution that addresses the grievances at the heart of the crisis.