More than 360,000 inhabitants of the Chadian province of Lake have been forced to flee their homes by recurrent jihadist attacks and the environmental crisis, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) said on Friday August 27.
Read also: Boko Haram multiplies attacks around Lake Chad
“ Between August 8 and 16, 11,764 people were displaced ” in this region due to insecurity and flooding, “ one of the largest numbers recorded by IOM in such a short period ”, underlines the Organization in a press release. Lake Chad, on the border between Nigeria, Niger, Cameroon and Chad, has been transformed by climate change into a vast swampy expanse dotted with small islets, some of which are home to jihadists from the Nigerian group Boko Haram.
Displaced people live in unsanitary camps
After the death on March 23 of a hundred Chadian soldiers in a bloody attack by the jihadist group, Chad had launched a violent counter-offensive in the province of Lac. President Idriss Déby Itno then claimed to have got rid of the jihadist presence on the national territory. But he admitted on August 9 that " Boko Haram would still do a lot of damage " in Chad. " The province of Lake has the most intense rains in nearly 30 years, this is on top of the displacement caused by security problems ," says IOM, referring to " flash floods that have flooded villages and fields " .
“ Three quarters of the displaced people identified by IOM live in camps, most of them made of straw and tin. Many of them sleep without a roof, without adequate protection against bad weather and without access to water, sanitation, health services or protection against the Covid-19 that they would need, ”according to the statement.
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