Hundreds of Cameroonian refugees flood Benue
From Hope Abah, Makurdi
Hundreds of people who fled the Republic of Cameroon are now taking refuge in different camps at Akwaya in Kwande Local Government Area of Benue State.
The Executive Secretary of the State Emergency Management Agency (SEMA), Emmanuel Shior, yesterday confirmed the development to newsmen in Makurdi stressing that the influx of the displaced persons was already taken a toll on the state.
“It is a human catastrophe in which we are witnessing influx of Cameroonians into Kwande villages. We have taken two trailer loads of relief materials to the people who have been put in two camps. The situation there is not really good because there are no access roads to the place. They are in the interior areas of Kwande,” he said.
Shior noted that his attention was drawn to the emergency about two weeks ago after Governor Samuel Ortom got hints of the situation and made immediate contact with the Director-General of NEMA in Abuja as well as ensured that the displaced people were adequately catered for.
He added the state government through SEMA had already visited the area, placed the refugees in two camps in Anande and Abande communities of Kwande.
The SEMA boss further intimated that some of the displaced were Tiv speaking natives who lived in Cameroon until violence broke out recently in the country while the vast majority were citizens of the troubled country.