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AFP
Niamey
Some 15,000 Malians were moved out of two large refugee camps in western Niger in late 2019 to live in nearby towns where they will be safer from jihadist attacks, the United Nations announced for the first time on Wednesday.
“The closure of the camps in December 2019 was a joint decision (by the UN refugee agency and the government of Niger) and was accelerated last year with the deterioration of the security situation,” Benoit Moreno, a UNHCR official in the capital Niamey, told AFP.
The camps at Tabarey Barey and Mangaize had sheltered Malians fleeing violence in their own country since 2012.
For “the government of Niger, the camps are not a solution as there are parallel (basic public) services, and the people are isolated,” Moreno said.
The residents have been transferred to the towns of Ayorou and Ouallam, also in the Tillaberi region bordering Mali, he said.
Moreno said the UNHCR will work to help the refugees to integrate with the local population with a view to their eventual return to Mali.
The UNHCR has handed over possession of the two camps to the Niger government, an interior ministry official told public radio.
Houses will be built for refugees and internally displaced Niger citizens to “facilitate integration”, he said.
The transfer of the refugees “has a double advantage: it shelters the refugees from terrorist attacks and the (local) population will benefit from social services (health, education, food)” provided by the UN, another local elected official told AFP.
In addition, the Nigerien authorities suspect that the camps were sheltering “terrorists or their accomplices”, the official said.
Niamey
Some 15,000 Malians were moved out of two large refugee camps in western Niger in late 2019 to live in nearby towns where they will be safer from jihadist attacks, the United Nations announced for the first time on Wednesday.
“The closure of the camps in December 2019 was a joint decision (by the UN refugee agency and the government of Niger) and was accelerated last year with the deterioration of the security situation,” Benoit Moreno, a UNHCR official in the capital Niamey, told AFP.
The camps at Tabarey Barey and Mangaize had sheltered Malians fleeing violence in their own country since 2012.
For “the government of Niger, the camps are not a solution as there are parallel (basic public) services, and the people are isolated,” Moreno said.
The residents have been transferred to the towns of Ayorou and Ouallam, also in the Tillaberi region bordering Mali, he said.
Moreno said the UNHCR will work to help the refugees to integrate with the local population with a view to their eventual return to Mali.
The UNHCR has handed over possession of the two camps to the Niger government, an interior ministry official told public radio.
Houses will be built for refugees and internally displaced Niger citizens to “facilitate integration”, he said.
The transfer of the refugees “has a double advantage: it shelters the refugees from terrorist attacks and the (local) population will benefit from social services (health, education, food)” provided by the UN, another local elected official told AFP.
In addition, the Nigerien authorities suspect that the camps were sheltering “terrorists or their accomplices”, the official said.
