Refugees from Boko Haram return home

MAIDUGURI, Nigeria — Excited but fearful, refugees from Boko Haram piled into yellow school buses with their bundles of belongings, returning after two years to homes that have been torched, wells destroyed, livestock looted and fields that still may not be safe from the Islamic insurgents.

On Monday, the largest group yet of such refugees, nearly 2,000, was transported to villages and the town of Konduga. Though they are just 22 miles from Maiduguri, northeast Nigeria’s biggest city, they are also on the fringes of the Sambisa Forest where the Islamic extremists still have strongholds.

How this group of returnees survives, and whether the military can protect them, could influence other refugees whom the government is keen to resettle. Maiduguri alone is home to about 1 million of the 2.6 million people forced from their homes in Nigeria and neighboring countries during Boko Haram’s seven-year uprising that has killed some 20,000.

Despite the threat from insurgents, “food is the most important issue,” said one returnee, Baari Mustapha. “If not, there will be serious hunger and starvation.”

Food already is a critical issue. Children are dying of starvation in refugee camps like Dalori, where many of the returnees had been living in tattered tents and makeshift huts of straw on the outskirts of Maiduguri.

Dalori residents were among hundreds who protested last week, accusing officials of stealing their food donations. Nigeria’s government is investigating the charges.

The refugees say the camps are miserable, and they hope life will be better back home.